Online Reporter
Yeukai Karengezeka
Court Correspondent
ANOTHER accomplice involved in allegedly conspiring to evade duty on 17,5 tonnes of imported cotton T-shirts valued at US$78 880 appeared in court on Monday.
Perfect Mhlanga, a son to a Bramfiled farm owner in Mazowe, appeared in court charged with fraud.
He appeared before Harare regional magistrate Mrs Tilda Mazhande, who remanded him in custody to today for bail application.
The other nine accomplices, including ZIMRA officials and clearing agents, were arrested earlier this month and are already on remand.
The accused worked together to falsify documents and misrepresent the shipment as agricultural drip irrigation equipment, which is exempt from import duty.
The accused are Jethro Mavangwa (41), director of Jeed Investments Pvt Ltd, Peter Ndamba (61), director of Rufaro Nenyasha Pvt Voluntary Organisation, Norest Chiureki Marara (51), a clearing agent with Secure Freight Pvt Ltd, Brian Simbachako (35), a ZIMRA revenue officer, Alford Toruvanda (37), another ZIMRA revenue officer, and Tony Chisuse (31), a truck driver.
The other ones are Patricia Katona, Mike Darangwa amd Best Gadzikwa Mawonera.
Prosecutor Mr Lancelot Mutsokoti alleged that in October 2024 Mavangwa, through Jeed Investments Pvt Ltd, imported 1 066 cartons of cotton T-shirts weighing 17 573 kg from Fin-Agri-Holding D.O.O in Slovenia.
The consignment was sealed at the Port of Koper in Slovenia and transported to Beira, Mozambique, en route to Harare, Zimbabwe.
In February 2025, the shipment arrived in Beira. On March 4, Mavangwa approached CMA CGM shipping company in Harare to change the consignee details on the bill of lading from Jeed Investments Pvt Ltd to Rufaro Nenyasha Pvt Voluntary Organisation, allegedly to facilitate the fraud.
The accused then created fake shipping documents, falsely identifying the consignment as agricultural drip irrigation equipment from China Drip Irrigation Equipment Co. Ltd, instead of T-shirts.
This misrepresentation was intended to benefit from tax exemptions for agricultural goods. The consignment was transported by rail to the Manica warehouse in Harare on March 23, still sealed with its original Slovenian seal.
On April 17, clearing agent Marara subcontracted another agent, Best Gadzikwa Mawonera of Dawn Shipping Pvt Ltd, to handle ZIMRA clearance using the forged documents.
Relying on the fake invoices, Mawonera processed ZIMRA on April 23, declaring the consignment as agricultural equipment.
ZIMRA officers Simbachako and Toruvanda, who were responsible for conducting physical inspections, allegedly cleared the shipment without verifying its contents.
The container was released on April 25 and transported to Bramfield Farm in Nyabira in the custody of Mhlanga, where the T-shirts were offloaded without payment of import duty or VAT.
The court heard that ZIMRA suffered an actual loss of US$78 880,35 or ZWL 2 167 608,35 in unpaid duty and VAT.
