dyton mupawaenda
Yeukai Karengezeka-Court Correspondent
A police officer based in Bulawayo has appeared in court for using a fake rebate letter to import his vehicle for free.
Noah Munongoverwa (40) appeared before Harare regional magistrate Mr Donald Ndirowei charged with fraud.
He was released on US$300 bail and was remanded to January 31, 2024 pending finalisation of investigations.
Prosecuting, Mr Anesu Chirenje alleged that sometime in December 2022, Munongoverwa bought a Honda Fit vehicle from Wania Motors (Pvt) Ltd, a South African company, for US$1 500 and was issued with an invoice.
He decided to import his motor vehicle using the civil servants rebate facility.
The State alleged that on December 12 last year, Munongoverwa made an application for approval to purchase a motor vehicle under a civil servants’ rebate scheme and forwarded the application to Zimbabwe Republic Police Bulawayo Suburban District headquarters and it was duly recommended for onward transmission to Police General Headquarters by the officer commanding police for Bulawayo Suburban District.
Fully aware that he had not completed the application process and had not been granted authorisation and bypassing the authorisation process from Ministry of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion, and the normal channel of applying for a valid rebate letter on December 13 this year, he approached Alfred Makaya for assistance to obtain a rebate letter and accepted to assist at a fee.
With the intention to deceive Zimra, Munongoverwa gave copies of his national Identity card, Police ID, current payslip, invoice for the motor vehicle and the driver’s license to Makaya, to facilitate the generation of the fake rebate letter and paid him US$210 in cash.
A few days later, Makaya sent Munongoverwa a soft copy of a fake rebate letter dated 15 December 2022 reference number 9/28/3/4633/22 via WhatsApp and advised him to proceed to Beitbridge Border Post to collect his motor vehicle.
The court heard that sometime in February this year, Munongoverwa proceeded to Beitbridge Border Post with the aim of clearing his vehicle using the fraudulently obtained rebate letter.
He then engaged a clearing agent, Donald Kahukwa, and gave him the fake rebate letter together with other vehicle importation documents that he presented to Zimra officials at the border.
The Zimra officials processed, cleared the vehicle and waived duty payment since a rebate letter had been presented to them.
He then registered the vehicle with the Central Vehicle Registry in his name and a registration number was issued.
Online Reporter