5 bogus ZACC officers granted bail

Yeukai Karengezeka Court Correspondent

FIVE men who were masquerading as members of the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) and attempted to dupe a car dealer have been granted US$100 bail each by Harare magistrate Mr Dennis Mangosi.

Tinashe Mhere (27), Peter Maodzeka, Nyasha Ndumo (32), Luckmore Makwara (36) and Raymond Banda (28) will be back in court on November 2 to answer to charges of impersonation.

The complainant is the State represented by prosecutor Ms Grace Mugocheke and witness Artwell Mpofu, an investigations officer with ZACC.

Mhere and Banda are unemployed, while Maodzeka is a retired police officer. Ndumo and Makwara are serving members of the police, but are presently suspended.

The State alleged that on September 26, Mhere and David Nyasuka, who is still at large, approached Tawanda Dekwende, a car sales man at the intersection of Prince Edward Road and Josiah Tongogara Avenue, saying they were selling a motor vehicle.

Dekwende requested to see their national identification cards so that he could draft the agreement of sale. The accused then informed him that they were genuine people employed by ZACC and produced ZACC identity cards.

Dekwende insisted that they should produce national identification cards, as ZACC identification cards were not appropriate for business transactions.

That was when Mhere and Nyasuka then said they would go collect their national identification cards from their homes.

After the two left, Dekwende called ZACC to verify if the two were members of the organisation.

ZACC investigations officers quickly reacted and arrested Mhere upon return who was found in possession of a fake ZACC identity card in the name of David Nyasuka.

Further investigations by ZACC revealed that Mhere was working in cahoots with four other suspects who have since been arrested, except for Nyasuka who is still at large.

ZACC investigation officers recovered the national identity cards, police identification cards and the fake ZACC identification cards from the gang.