Chronicle Editor
Tendai Rupapa Senior Court Reporter
A Harare businessman allegedly took advantage of his partner’s illness and forged an affidavit claiming that he had died and fraudulently transferred his gold claim shares worth $300 000 into his own company. Webster Katiyo (43), the director of TZHE C Private Limited, entered into a joint venture with Christopher and Jessica Mhondiwa and became partners jointly owning Fombe 16 gold claim.
Jessica later died, leaving Christopher and Katiyo the sole owners of the gold claim.
Katiyo fraudulently took over the gold claim worth $300 000, the state alleged. He is facing fraud charges and will appear in court today before magistrate Ms Bianca Makwande for trial commencement.
According to the State papers, sometime in 2013, Jessica died and Christopher fell sick and was bedridden for some time. This left Katiyo running the mine alone, awaiting Christopher’s recovery.
Taking advantage of the situation, Katiyo, it is alleged, merged Fombe 16 gold claim with his company TZHE C (Pvt) Limited without Christopher’s knowledge. It is the State’s case that Katiyo removed Christopher from the structures of the gold claim.
On March 18 of the same year, Katiyo wrote an affidavit in which he misrepresented that both Jessica and Christopher had died, adding that he was the only surviving partner of the gold claim.
He took the affidavit to the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development and presented it to the officials before completing a certificate of transfer in which he indicated that he had agreed to transfer the mining syndicate to TZHE C (Pvt) Limited as a joint venture.
Through the misrepresentation, the ministry transferred the mining claim to Katiyo’s company. It is further alleged that Katiyo was issued with a certificate of registration which then ceased Christopher’s directorship.
It is the State’s case that due to Katiyo’s actions, Christopher lost ownership of the claim, which is valued at $300 000.
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