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Prosper Dembedza–Court Correspondent
A HARARE car dealer appeared in court yesterday on allegations of forging rebate documents for a deceased civil servant, which he used to import a Mercedes Benz, defrauding the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) of potential revenue in the process.
Panashe Chawatama (26) was facing fraud charges when he appeared before Harare magistrate Mrs Marehwanazvo Gofa, who remanded him in custody to August 16 for his bail application.
It is the State’s case that in August 2022, Chawatama, in connivance with Yvonne Musoni (who is still at large), fraudulently imported the Mercedes Benz using the name Munyaradzi Chanakira through the civil servant’s vehicle rebate scheme.
The two had on May 22, 2022, bought a Mercedes Benz E- Class chassis number WD021205924845267 from South Africa, using the name Munyaradzi Chanakira and in August they wanted to clear it through Beitbridge without paying duty.
Chawatama, in connivance with Musoni, forged a rebate letter referenced 9/28/3/2647/22 and dated 1 August 2022. He then took this fake document to Beitbridge Border Post where he presented it to Mr Nigel Chapungu, a Zimra Beitbridge Border Post official.
Mr Chapungu checked the authenticity of the rebate letter through an email to Musoni, and she confirmed that it was authentic when in fact it was not.
The confirmation by Musoni, resulted in Mr Chapungu generating assessment number N6970 of 14.08.2022, which waived the import duty payable. As a result, the two successfully imported the vehicle without paying import duty.
Investigations established that Chanakira had applied and was authorised by the Ministry of Finance to import a Toyota Vitz, not a Mercedes Benz. Investigations further established that Chanakira died in July 2022 before the Mercedes Benz was imported in August 2022.
As a result of the misrepresentation, Zimra was prejudiced of US$9 500.
Online Reporter