Online Reporter
Yeukai Karengezeka
Court Correspondent
A CROWN Bank employee appeared before the Harare Magistrates’ Court last week facing charges of fraud after allegedly swindling Dairibord’s group finance director Leonard Mutunga of US$96 000 in a fake loan collateral scam involving a deceased person.
Susan Shamiso Charewa of Aspindale Park, is accused of defrauding Mutunga (44) by misrepresenting the ownership of a residential property offered as security for the loan. She was remanded in custody and is awaiting a bail ruling today before Harare magistrate, Ms Ruth Moyo.
Prosecutor Mr Takudzwa Jambawu alleged that in November 2024, Charewa approached Mutunga requesting financial assistance, claiming she urgently needed a US$96 000 loan.
She was accompanied by two men, whom she introduced as her father, Kennedy Chatambudza Chinyowa, and her son, Shingirirai Maruta.
To secure the loan, Charewa claimed that her father had agreed to cede Stand Number 1879, Mutoko Road, New Marlborough, Harare, as collateral.
Mutunga trusted this assurance and handed over the cash on December 5, 2024, in the presence of a witness, Wadzanayi Manyika.
A formal loan agreement was signed, requiring Charewa to repay the sum in three equal instalments of US$32 000 over three months.
By March 2025, Charewa had failed to honour the repayment agreement despite multiple attempts by Mutunga to recover the funds.
Mutunga then sought legal recourse from the High Court of Zimbabwe to auction the property used as collateral.
However, investigations revealed that the pledged property belonged to a deceased estate and was never legally owned by Charewa.
It further emerged that the man she claimed was her father, Kennedy Chinyowa, had died on June 19, 2021 three years before the loan agreement was signed.
After failing to recover his money, Mutunga reported the matter to ZRP Milton Park.
Charewa was arrested at her workplace on December 3, 2025. Nothing was recovered.
