Online Reporter
Thupeyo Muleya, Beitbridge Bureau
The trial of a 28-year-old customs clearing agent based in Beitbridge who was recently arrested for defrauding a Harare-based civil servant of US$15,700 in a botched vehicle import deal has been postponed to August 7.
The man is believed to be part of the many bogus car dealers who target unsuspecting car importers, promising to get them vehicles from South Africa at relatively cheaper rates.
However, soon after getting paid, these characters vanish into thin air without delivering the said vehicles.
The case against Evans Nzara of Khwalu 1 suburb was postponed to a later date after his lawyers indicated they wanted more time to go through evidence submitted by the State.
Nzara was arrested in January for a crime committed in May last year, after spending most of the time hiding in South Africa.
He was busted after running into a police initiated trap recently.
Nzara is accused of taking US$15,700 from one Hamufare Mugauri, a civil servant on the pretext he was going to import for him a single cab Toyota Hilux single cab 2014 model before taking off.
Allegations as presented by the State led by Miss Olivia Chimutinya are that on May 10 last year the complainant sought the services of Nzara to import a Toyota Hilux single cab 2014 model from South Africa.
Nzara indicated that he would assist Mugauri with the shipment processes and on May 15 he advised the complainant that he had found the car in South Africa costing USD10, 700.
The court heard that he then instructed Mugauri to deposit the money into a CABS bank account he alleged belonged to his company.
Mugauri in turn deposited US$10,200 which Nzara acknowledged receipt via a WhatsApp message.
An additional deposit of US$700 was made via mobile money transfer services EcoCash on the same day.
After which Nzara bought a car from South Africa which he didn’t deregister as per the agreed terms and he fraudulently cleared it into Zimbabwe after allegedly manipulating the Temporary Import Permit (TIP) facility.
Upon delivering the vehicle, Mugauri discovered it was a 2010 model and not the 2014 model as requested and that it had not been deregistered in South Africa.
The State said after the complainant raised concerns, Nzara promised to deregister the vehicle from South Africa and register it in Zimbabwe and that the process would require an additional USD4800 which he was given.
Later in September last year, Nzara advised Mugauri that he had completed all the processes and the payment of import duty and sent a customs receipt as proof.
The fraud came to light when the vehicle was impounded by the police in Harare for not having registration plates.
The State said the accused person became evasive when the complainant asked about the registration plates until he decided to report the matter to the police.
Police investigations revealed that the accused person had allegedly imported the vehicle using a fake TIP and that he had doctored the vehicle registration certificate.
It was also discovered that the vehicle had not paid import duty and that he had shown the complainant a fake customs duty payment receipt.
Nzara was arrested in January after being lured by detectives during a trap in January this year and the US$15,700 is yet to be recovered.
