adminZvikomborero Parafini
A GANG of four landed in the dock yesterday after they allegedly teamed up and stole over $5 million from pensioners.
David Madzinga, Samson Chome, Luckmore Matuku and Isaac Mafa appeared before Harare magistrate Stanford Mambanje, who remanded them in custody to July 19, for bail considerations.
The court heard that in 2016, the gang formed an organised criminal syndicate, to swindle Government pensioners lump sum payouts.
The first complainant is Davy Gwenya, a retired police officer.
The court heard that Gwenya received his pension payout of $1 159956 on February 25 this year and on March 4, he had $1 018 318, in his account.
On the same day, his phone suddenly lost connectivity and for the next two days, he failed to connect to his CBZ mobile application.
It is the State’s case that on March 7, he approached Econet Avondale to find out what the problem could be.
He was advised to do a sim replacement, which he did.
And, when he went to a supermarket in Avondale, he was shocked to be told that his account had insufficient funds and was left with $768. He went to his bank and was given a statement that showed his money had been withdrawn.
Investigations revealed the money had been used to buy 500 bags of fertilisers.
It was found out that Madzinga, Chome and Matuku had travelled to Masvingo, where they had replaced Gwenya’s Sim card illegally, and hacked into his CBZ account.
The second complainant is Tsitsi Bheketi, a former prison officer, who lost $1 129 054, to the gang.
Using the same modus operandi, the gang stole from Ennie Rudo Chawalame, a retired police officer who lost $220 000, Christina Murombo, a retired teacher who lost $172 652, Malvern Dhunhuki, a retired soldier who lost $1 989 000, and Ntombiyolwozi Ngwekazi, who also lost $2 083 159.
Moses Mapanga appeared for the State.
Mathew Masinge
Online Reporter