malvernmugadzikwa
Online Reporter
A 51-year-old teacher from Shurugwi appeared in court on Tuesday for allegedly defrauding the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) by smuggling a vehicle into the country.
Bekithemba Ganyani, who is a teacher at Parkinson Secondary School, appeared before Harare magistrate Mr Munashe Chibanda, who remanded him in custody to Friday.
Ganyani’s accomplice, Peter Muruki, who was a clearing agent at Beitbridge Border Post, is now late.
The court heard that in February 2023, the accused purchased a motor vehicle, a 2013 Toyota Aqua, in South Africa, which he intended to import using the civil servants rebate scheme.
Without following the official channel of making an application for the rebate to the Ministry of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion through this ministry, Ganyani connived with the late Muruki to facilitate the processing of a fake rebate letter to import the vehicle.
He gave the late Muruki copies of his driver’s licence and pay slip and paid him US$300 to facilitate the processing of the fake rebate letter.
The deceased then proceeded to Beitbridge Border Post with the fake rebate letter together with the vehicle’s important documents and presented them to Zimra officials.
The accused was arrested on January 16, 2024 while in possession of fake rebate copies, which were discovered after an investigation at the Zimra office.
Zimra suffered prejudice of $3 million through unpaid import duty.
Online Reporter