Company loses US$56 000 in fuel deal

Yeukai Karengezeka–Court Correspondent 

A fuel dealer appeared in court yesterday for allegedly defrauding a fuel company of the US$56 200 he was advanced to deliver 80 000 litres of fuel.

Charles Whide (39), who was represented by Mr Steven Chikotora, was remanded out of custody to February 23 on free bail by Harare magistrate Mrs Appollonia Marutya.

The complainant in this case is Faith Fuels (Pvt) Limited represented by Ryan Dzapata. 

The State led by Mr Thomas Chanakira alleged that on May 19, 2022, Whide approached Ryan Dzapata of Faith Fuels (Pvt) Ltd and convinced him that he could acquire fuel on his behalf. Whide allegedly misrepresented that he had the potential to acquire fuel from Strauss Logistics (Pvt) Limited of Willowvale, Harare, a company which trades in bulk fuel. 

Mr Dzapata was interested and ordered 80 000 litres of diesel, giving Whide US$56 200 as a deposit with the balance to be paid upon the delivery of the diesel.

The State alleged that Whide took the money but did not deliver the fuel. Mr Dzapata tried to contact Whide several times but he kept on giving false promises and at one point, he misrepresented that he had bought the fuel from Mozambique but it was intercepted by the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra). 

Mr Dzapata waited for over a year but Whide changed his mobile number and became evasive.

Realising that Whide was a bogus supplier, Mr Dzapata made a report to the police which then led to the arrest of Whide. As a result of Whide’s actions, the fuel company was prejudiced of US$56 200 and nothing was recovered.