Online Reporter
Zvikomborero Parafini
HARARE businesswoman Tariro Masiiwa Musekiwa of Chrisha Boutique (Pvt) Ltd has been dragged to court in a tax violation case involving over US$180,000.
Musekiwa was not asked to plead when she appeared before Harare regional magistrate Marewanazvo Gofa, who remanded her to October 1.
She was released on US$300 bail and was ordered not to interfere with witnesses, to stay at her given address and to report every fortnight at CID Assert Forfeiture.
The court heard that from March 11, Musekiwa operated a money transmission facility in which she collected various amounts of cash from local individuals in the textile retail business.
After collecting the money, she allegedly made foreign transactions to buy and import textile goods from Turkey, on their behalf, without license or authority from the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe.
On August 28, detectives picked intelligence to that effect and approached Musekiwa at her shop where they requested to see relevant documentation to support her business but she failed to produce it. Musekiwa was arrested and receipt books used for receiving the cash from various individuals were recovered.
Total value involved is US$187,813 and nothing was recovered. Prosecutors claimed Musekiwa was also involved in money laundering.
They claim she received money and made foreign transactions to purchase and import textile goods from Turkey on their behalf without any license or authority from the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe.
She converted the proceeds of crime to purchasing textile goods from Turkey, disguising the true nature and location of the proceeds of crime by importing textile goods.
Mathew Masinge