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Prosper Dembedza Herald Correspondent
Two employees of the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare yesterday appeared in court on charges of violating the Government’s scheme allowing civil servants to import vehicles duty free.
Driver Samuel Gerald Doma and general hand Ruzvidzo Bote were facing fraud charges when they appeared before Harare magistrate Mrs Marehwanazvo Gofa who remanded them out of custody on $100 bail.
In 2019, the Government introduced the civil servants motor vehicle rebate scheme which is governed by Statutory Instrument 52 of 2019 of Customs and Exercise [General] [Amendment] Regulations, 2019 in which civil servants who had served in the civil service for 10 years and above were allowed to import motor vehicles up to a specific value for each employment grade without paying import duty.
After purchasing vehicles of their choice from abroad, eligible civil servants would attach their motor vehicle purchase invoices to an application for rebate which they submit through their ministry who in turn would make recommendations to the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development for the issue of a letter of authority granting the civil servant the rebate to import the vehicle under the facility.
The civil servant would then be required to take the issued letter of authority and attach an application to Zimbabwe Revenue Authority for the rebate clearance letter.
Armed with that Zimra letter, when the vehicle arrived at the border, the civil servant would then submit the rebate clearance letter to ZIMRA customs official at the border to allow the vehicle to enter into the country without paying import duty as long as the value of the vehicle fall within that set for the grade of that civil servant.
It is alleged that sometime around November 2022 Bote bought a Nissan Latio motor vehicle in Musina and started the process of getting the rebate on customs duty. He asked Doma for help since Doma is also into part-time business of buying and importing of vehicles on behalf of people.
Bote then gave Doma his application for rebate and all documentation necessary so that he took them to their Ministry of Health and Child Care head office in Harare.
Sometime in December last year, Bote then asked Doma how to speed up the process since authorisation from Ministry of Finance was taking long. Doma then indicated that he could sort things out. He took the motor vehicle purchase invoice and bill of lading from Bote and proceeded to generate a fake rebate letter in the name of Bote and delivered it to him.
Further to their common purpose Bote then proceeded to present the fake rebate to Zimra officials at Beitbridge for the pre-clearance procedure knowingly that he had not been cleared by Ministry of Finance. But the Zimra officials let in the 2013 Nissan Latio belonging to Bote duty free through the fraudulent rebate letter.
The state alleges that as a result of the misrepresentation ZIMRA suffered an actual prejudice for the duty not paid which Is yet to be quantified. The vehicle has since been seized by ZIMRA.
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