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Herald Reporter
A 34-year-old man, who was employed by Curechem Overseas Private Limited, shall spend one year in prison after he was found guilty of stealing from his former paymasters.Tawanda Sibanda was found guilty of theft, theft of trust property and corruptly concealing a transaction from a principal.
For corruptly concealing a transaction from a principal, Sibanda was slapped with a one year jail term which Harare magistrate Mr Noel Mupeiwa wholly suspended on condition of good behaviour.
On the counts of theft and theft of trust property which were all treated as one for sentencing purposes, Sibanda was slapped with a five-year jail term before the court set aside one year on condition of good behaviour.
Sibanda also had three years of his sentence suspended on condition that he restitutes Curechem Overseas US$74 000, before December 16, failure of which, he would have three more years in prison.
Sibanda contravened section 173 (1) (a) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act Chapter 9:23 “corruptly concealing from a principal personal interest in a transaction.”
He is said to have contravened that part of the law when as an employee of Curechem Overseas, went on to join Eyetech Investments as one of its directors.
The company he joined was in the business of distributing chemicals just like Curechem Overseas, but he did not tell his superiors of his interests.
Sibanda misrepresented that Mortex Trading had purchased some chemicals when he knew that Eyetech through Mortex had purchased and received the chemicals.
He had also failed to honour a trust agreement in which he held on to some money which he was supposed to hand over to Curechem Overseas officials.
The accused converted the whole amount to his own use and as a result the court ordered him to restitute Curechem Overseas US$74 000 or risk being imprisoned for three more years.
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