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has been deferred to August 31 this year to allow the State to put its house in order.
Mliswa (39) appeared before regional magistrate Mr Morgen Nemadire who postponed the matter at the State’s instigation.
Prosecutor Mr Obi Mabahwana alleges that sometime in April 2008, Government through the RBZ, started assisting local tobacco merchants who were unable to secure offshore credit lines to buy tobacco. Under the facility, the central bank would advance Zimbabwe dollars to deserving new tobacco merchants to buy tobacco at the auction floors. The merchant would repay the RBZ in foreign currency after exporting the tobacco.
It is alleged that sometime in June 2008, Mliswa’s company Saltlakes Holdings through Premier Banking Corporation applied for a US$15 million loan under the facility and was given US$7,5 million.
The two parties, the State says, agreed on a memorandum of deposit facility of US$6,5 million, which Saltlakes was expected to pay back to the RBZ by December 31, 2008. In May last year, Saltlakes allegedly misrepresented to RBZ that most of their tobacco had been stolen or damaged by water and the two agreed that Saltlakes would pay the central bank US$3,5 million to be realised from the sale of the remaining tobacco to Savanna.
However, the court heard that Mliswa did not disclose to the RBZ that Savanna was only going to facilitate sales and would not buy the tobacco itself. On May 6, 2009 Saltlakes allegedly asked to use part of the foreign currency to buy tobacco and would sell 50 percent of the foreign currency to the RBZ. The State says Mliswa got US$3,5 million from selling the tobacco, but did not surrender the money he was supposed to.
Bongani Ndlovu