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Crime Reporter
A fraudster, who was granted bail pending appeal by the High Court in 2010 and later failed to meet the requirements of the appeal, has been re-arrested in Harare after a warrant of arrest was issued against him.
Harris Kujinga was sentenced to five years in prison in 2010 for defrauding Nestle Zimbabwe of Z$27 million, which was equivalent to $45 000.
After the sentence, Kujinga, one of the directors of Leo-Chris Auto Car Sales based in Milton Park, approached the High Court and successfully applied for bail pending appeal.
Kujinga, however, did not comply with the High Court requirements in which he was supposed to pay a security fee among other obligations, prompting the High Court to consider that he had abandoned his appeal.
A warrant of arrest was issued, leading to his arrest by detectives on Monday.
Kujinga appeared before Harare regional magistrate Mr Hosea Mujaya on Tuesday who upheld his five-year jail term.
Mr Michael Reza prosecuted.
The State proved that sometime in August 2008, Kujinga and his accomplices approached Nestle Zimbabwe and offered them a Mazda BT50, which they were selling.
They misrepresented to Mr Kenneth Chinyanda, the company’s principal officer that their car sale company was selling the vehicle for Z$27 million ($45 000) at that time.
Nestle Zimbabwe had a finance lease agreement with a local bank and the money was transferred into Kujinga’s bank account.
On September 9, 2008, Kujinga delivered the vehicle to Nestle Zimbabwe and it had fake registration number plates and registration book.
This was done without the knowledge of and authority of the rightful owner, Mr Yousuf Mohammad.
Mr Mohammad discovered the offence in November 2008 that his vehicle had been sold and managed to repossess it.
Nestle Zimbabwe then made a report to the police.
Online Reporter