Zvikomborero Parafini
A HARARE lawyer and his secretary have been accused of converting more than US$1.3 million collected from residential stand buyers to their personal use in an alleged scheme involving two sets of receipt books.
Joseph Mandizha, 58, and Ranganai Tigere, 47, appeared before Harare regional magistrate Marewanazvo Gofa facing theft of trust property and money laundering charges.
The two were released on US$1 000 bail each after spending the weekend in custody.
The State alleges that Mandizha owns Mandizha and Company Legal Practitioners, where Tigere is employed as a secretary.
According to the State, Tafadzwa Sibindi is a trustee of Martmon Sibindi Trust, which owns a 16.1883-hectare piece of land in Tynwald.
In 2017, the trust decided to subdivide the land into residential stands and engaged Mandizha’s law firm to manage the financial aspects of the project.
Mandizha’s firm was allegedly responsible for preparing agreements of sale, attending to prospective buyers and accounting to the trust for money flowing into and out of the project.
It is alleged that Mandizha recommended Heaven on Earth Real Estate, a company in which he is a majority shareholder, to market the residential stands.
Under the arrangement, payments from stand buyers were allegedly made to Mandizha’s law firm before the money was distributed among the real estate company, the developer and the trust.
The State alleges that from January 2023, Mandizha and Tigere received money from clients but converted part of the funds meant for the trust to their personal use.
Police further allege that in an attempt to conceal the alleged offence, Mandizha instructed Tigere to use two different receipt books.
Tigere would allegedly record one amount in a dummy receipt book while a different amount appeared in the original receipt book.
The alleged scheme came to light in March this year after financial irregularities were detected in the project’s cash inflows and outflows.
An audit was subsequently conducted and allegedly established that US$1 333 342 had been converted to the pair’s personal use.
The State further alleges that Mandizha used some of the money to purchase a mine in Marondera in an attempt to disguise the source of the funds.
Nothing was recovered.
Lawrence Gangarahwe appeared for the State while the pair was represented by Nyadumbi of Musara Law Chambers.
