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Nyore Madzianike Senior Court Reporter
A retired officer of the Zimbabwe Prison and Correctional Services (ZPCS), Mr Phillip Matiza, lost his entire pension payout of over $1,1 million allegedly to an illegal foreign currency dealer who hacked into his account.
The illegal forex fealer, Thompson Jagada (27), operates from the corner of Leopold Takawira Street and Augustino Neto Avenue in Harare.
Jagada appeared in court yesterday on allegations of stealing more than $1 million from Mr Matiza’s account.
He was not asked to plead to the theft charges when he appeared before Harare Regional magistrate Mr Stanford Mambanje, who denied him bail and remanded him in custody to May 5 saying he was facing a serious charge.
Mr Mambanje said the allegation over how Jagada duped Mr Matiza of his pension showed that he planned the offence, and recommended fraud charges rather than that theft charges be pressed.
On October 25 last year, Mr Matiza had $1 112 292.48 deposited into his CBZ Bank account as his pension payout.
On November 2, Jagada hacked Mr Matiza’s CBZ banking details and approached his friend, Patrick Makondo, claiming he had some local currency that he wanted to trade into United States dollars through CBZ Bank internal transfer.
Makondo then phoned Moses Kugara telling him that he had someone with local currency in his CBZ account and wanted to buy US dollars.
Kugara then linked up with Ernest Maferefa, a director at Trade Com (Private) Limited and asked him if he wanted some local currency in exchange for US dollars.
Kudzai Stella Tariro Mazanza heard that there was someone looking for local currency to exchange for US dollars and she contacted a friend in Gweru, Johanes Mapuranga, who was looking for $470 289.09 to be transferred to the CBZ trust account belonging to Gundu, Dube and Pamacheche Legal Practitioners.
It is alleged that Jagada then transferred $470 289.09 from Mr Matiza’s CBZ account.
After making the transfer, he gave the proof of payment to Patrick Makondo, who then shared it and was later paid US$3 700 by Johanes Mapuranga.
On the same day, Jagada and Makondo went to Moses Kugara’s office and collected the US$3 700.
It is said that Jagada went to Pick n Pay at Joina City and bought bulk airtime worth $525 250 using Mr Matiza’s CBZ account.
On the same date, Jagada made three ZIPIT transactions worth $9 750, $10 000 and $220 to Munashe Timothy Mupandawana, Salome Muchero and Joseph Rugocha.
On November 3, 2021, Mr Matiza went to Choppies Supermarket in Gweru where he wanted to buy some groceries but failed after the account reflected that it had insufficient funds.
He then made investigations leading to Jagada’s arrest.
Mr Lancelot Mutsokoti appeared for the State.
Online Reporter