Online Reporter
Yeukai Karengezeka
Court Correspondent
A FORMER finance manager for a local Non-Governmental Organisation has been sentenced to six years in prison after defrauding a businessman of US$108 000 in a fake investment scheme involving the supply of basic goods.
In handing down the sentence, magistrate Mr Taurai Manwere took into consideration that the accused, Shingirai Cele (41), was a first-time offender.
Consequently, one year of the sentence was suspended on condition of good behaviour, while an additional two years were set aside on condition that she restitutes the complainant US$54 000.
Cele will serve an effective three years in prison.
She was employed as a finance manager at the Centre for Conflict Management and Transformation, an NGO located at 28 Oxford Road, Highlands, Harare.
The complainant, Siza Diriza, a self-employed trucking businessman based in Harare, was lured into the fraudulent scheme between September and November 2021.
