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Prosper Dembedza Herald Correspondent
FOUR Premier Service Medical Aid Society bosses have appeared in court on allegations of stealing US$702 386.80 from the company in a botched gold deal.
Farai Muchena (54), the Chief Executive Officer, Victor Chaipa (39), the Group Strategy and Performance Executive, Cosmas Mukwesha (50), the Group Secretary and Polite Mugwagwa, the Performance Manager, (41), all employed by the Premier Service
Holding Company were facing theft charges when they appeared before Harare Magistrate Mr Stanford Mambanje.
The State is opposed to bail.
The court heard that sometime in 2020, the PSMAS board, with the objective of generating the much-needed foreign currency for the procurement of pharmaceutical drugs and other related medical equipment, passed a resolution to the effect that its management ventures into buying and selling of gold.
It was further resolved that staff members from its procurement department were to act as buyers and agents for buying the gold on behalf of the society.
It is further alleged that PSMAS had other investment projects involving cannabis growing and a micro finance business.
On the February 18, 2021, PSMAS, acting on the board resolution, handed over these projects of gold buying, cannabis growing and micro finance business to Premier Service Holding Company to enable them to focus on their core business of health insurance.
On July 13 2021, Muchena sent a memo to the complainant’s principal officer requesting funding for the gold project which had been taken over from PSMAS.
It is the State’s case that the funding request amounted to US$237 794 with US$108 674 as pre-trading funding. Furthermore, Muchena advised PSMAS about the formation of a company styled Claydust solely for the buying and selling of gold to Fidelity.
In response, the complainant disposed of its Zimbabwe Bank (ZB) shares totalling to 65 9643 valued at US$38 000 solely for the funding of the aforementioned gold project.
Thereafter, and with the intention of stealing money from the complainant, the accused persons, acting in consent, then diverted from the initially agreed position of using complainant’s procurement team in buying the gold on behalf of the Society.
The court heard that instead, the accused persons engaged 18 private agencies unknown to the PSMAS for gold buying. Subsequently, from the period extending from 2019 to 2022, accused persons received gold from five of the private agencies which was then sold to Fidelity by the accused persons realising cash amounting to US $702 386.80 having misled Fidelity printers that they needed hard cash for the purchase of drugs and pharmaceuticals well knowing that they wanted the cash for themselves.
It is alleged that the accused persons then converted the money to own use. During the period in question, PSMAS realised that the Society was not benefitting from the gold buying project as no drugs and pharmaceuticals were being procured for PSMAS hospitals and clinics yet records indicated that gold was being sold.
Subsequently, PSMAS engaged an external auditor, RBM Auditors, to carry out a forensic audit covering the period in question.
An audit was then conducted which unearthed that the accused persons received and converted all the money realized from the sale of gold to Fidelity printers totalling to US $702 386.80 to their own use.
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