Online Reporter
Zvikomborero Parafini
A TOP land development firm, Tinbon Investments and its directors were dragged to court yesterday charged with fraud and forgery.
Tinbon Investments was represented by Boniface Chikomo, its director. Chikomo appeared together with the company’s secretary, Tinashe Neghanda.
The complainants are Shadreck Mashayamombe and Tendai Wenyika.
The court heard that in 2017, Chikomo and Neghanda got wind that Chiedza Housing Pay Scheme had been allocated 500 stands by the City of Harare under layout plan TPY/ER/01/16, to develop residential stands at Donny Brooke Farm for its members.
The duo, acting on behalf of their company and in their personal capacity, approached Shadreck Mashayamombe, who was the chairperson of the Chiedza Housing Pay scheme with a proposal to service and develop the stands.
Mashayamombe told the duo that they were going to sit as a scheme and consider their proposal, but they did not reach any agreement with them.
In November 2017, Mashayamombe moved to South Africa during “Operation Restore Legacy”.
The duo then took advantage of Mashayamombe’s absence and went on to create a Memorandum of Agreement, which they purported to have been signed between them and Chiedza Housing Pay Scheme (being represented by Shadreck Mashayamombe) on March 28 2017 and a mandate letter authorising them to develop and sell the stands on behalf of Chiedza Housing Pay Scheme.
They allegedly forged the signatures of Mashayamombe and Tendai Concilia Wenyika as Chiedza Pay Scheme representatives.
Investigations carried out revealed that Mashayamombe and Wenyika, who are purported to have signed the Memorandum of Agreement between Tinbon Investment Pvt Ltd and Chiedza Housing Pay Scheme of the First Party, and a letter, mandating Tinbon Investment Pvt Ltd to develop and sell the stands in Donnybrooke, on behalf of Chiedza Housing Pay Scheme, never signed the MOU or the letter.
The agreement was also back-dated to make it appear as if Shadreck Mashayamombe signed it before moving to South Africa.
The Memorandum of Agreement and the Mandate letter were sent to the Questioned Documents Examiner for forensic examination, and the examination concluded that the signatures were forged.
Various complainants paid a total of US$6 968 735 to Tinbon Investments for the stands.
