UPDATED: Trial date for US$6 600 duty fraudsters

Until that person is proven guilty and convicted by the courts of law, that person, no matter what evidence is against him/her, is presumed to be innocent

Thupeyo Muleya, Beitbridge Bureau

THE trial of two customs clearing agents and a Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) employee, all from Beitbridge, recently arrested for allegedly defrauding a car dealer of US$6 600 in import duty last year, has been set for 18 February.

Allen Nyoni (23), Kudakwashe Zowa (32) both customs clearing agents and Henry Phiri (43), a Zimbabwe Revenue Authority customs officer, pleaded not guilty to charges of fraud when they appeared before Beitbridge resident magistrate Mr Toyendepi Zhou yesterday.

The trio was arrested as part of the ongoing crackdown by Zimra on dozens of dealers who smuggled or under-declared more than 500 vehicles imported into the country last year.

Nyoni and Zowa were remanded out of custody on $5 000 bail pending trial, while Phiri was remanded in custody to the trial date.

Prosecuting, Mr Manyonga Kuvarega told the court that on June29, last year, Nyoni was contracted by a car dealer (whose name was not stated in court papers) to facilitate the customs clearance and importation of three vehicles from South Africa via Beitbridge Border Post.

He said among the motor vehicles were two Toyota Alphard and one Honda Fit.

The court heard that Nyoni then sought the services of Zowa to speed up the process.

Mr Kuvarega said the vehicles’ combined import duty was calculated as US$6 600, which was paid in full to the accused persons by the importer.

Zowa allegedly approached the Zimra officer (Phiri) to process the Certificate of Customs Clearance commonly known as CCC.

Instead of capturing the vehicle details in the Zimra system, the prosecutor alleged that Phiri colluded with the two to produce fake CCCs for the vehicles.

Further allegations are that the three vehicles were later released from Zimra on the strength of the fraudulent clearance documents.

Mr Kuvarega said the trio then converted the import duty money and the issue came to light during a Zimra audit programme when the concerned motor vehicles were enlisted for forfeiture for violating customs regulations.

The car dealer reported the matter to police in Harare resulting in the three men’s subsequent arrest.