Online Reporter
Yeukai Karengezeka-Court Correspondent
A National Blood Service Zimbabwe (NBSZ) employee, Trymore Jairos (26), has been convicted of four counts of forgery for falsifying signatures of his superiors on loan guarantees and was sentenced to 630 hours of community service.
Jairos, who worked as a laboratory wash-up attendant under the finance executive’s supervision, admitted to four counts of forgery when he appeared before Harare Magistrate Tapiwa Banda.
Initially, Jairos faced a 24-month prison sentence, but six months were suspended on the condition of good behaviour.
The remaining 18 months were subsequently commuted to community service in recognition of mitigating factors, including his guilty plea.
Prosecutor Audrah Chitoro informed the court that Jairos committed the forgeries on multiple occasions, exploiting the trust placed in him by his colleagues.
The offences began on September 12 last year when Jairos forged the signature of Sisodwa Zanani, the safety, health, environmental and quality executive at NBSZ on a guarantee for a loan of US$3 000 for him from Edgars Club Plus.
The loan was structured to be repaid over 12 monthly instalments, but Jairos defaulted after making only one payment.
The fraud came to light on February 5 this year when Edgars Club Plus contacted Ms Zanani regarding the overdue repayment and when she followed up she discovered her signature had been forged on the loan documents.
Further investigations revealed that Jairos had forged a similar document bearing the signature of Radhi Chikwereti, the finance executive, to secure another loan of the same value.
In both instances, Jairos used an identical scheme, falsifying signatures on payroll deduction loan application forms to misrepresent the authenticity of the documents.
This pattern of forgery enabled him to fraudulently obtain loans under the pretence of genuine agreements guaranteed by his superiors.
Magistrate Banda, while acknowledging the seriousness of the offenses and the breach of trust involved, took into account the fact that Jairos pleaded guilty and the mitigating circumstances presented.
As a result, the custodial sentence was converted to community service, allowing Jairos an opportunity to reform while serving his punishment.
