admin
Ivan Zhakata, Herald Correspondent
CHARGES of criminal abuse of office involving over US$2 million laid against former Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB) chief executive Meanwell Gudu and two suspected accomplices have been withdrawn before plea and the three are now clear of suspicion.
Gudu appeared before Harare magistrate Marehwanazvo Gofa along with co-accused Stuart Shanyika, TIMB’s former head of special services, and Dr Andrew Matibiri, a retired former TIMB chief executive. They were arrested by ZACC on September 6, 2022, and first appeared before the Harare Magistrate Court on September 8, 2022.
Allegations are that the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe in the 2017-2018 farming seasons introduced a tobacco financing facility to support small-scale tobacco farmers with farming inputs and working capital.
A memorandum of agreement was signed on September 10, 2018, between RBZ as the provider of the funds for the facility, AFC Commercial Bank as the agent and TIMB as the borrower.
TIMB was to procure inputs, provide funds for capital expenditure and disburse the inputs to small-scale tobacco farmers. The State alleged that contrary to provisions of the agreement, the three accused entered into private agreements with other tobacco contractors, handpicking these in a deal corruptly designed to support the firms with inputs from the TIMB loan.
The State further alleges that RBZ was prejudiced of US$2 million, and nothing was recovered.
The matter was heard at the Magistrate Court on Thursday almost two years after the arrest and it was withdrawn before plea. Gudu joined TIMB in 2008 as a technical services executive and was appointed CEO in April 2021 following the retirement of the then CEO Dr Matibiri.
Online Reporter