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Zvikomborero Parafini
A HARARE businesswoman is counting her costs after she lost US$200 000 when she was hoodwinked into investing in a non-existent business.
The suspect, Steven John Bass, was dragged to court yesterday charged with fraud and was released by Harare regional magistrate Marewanazvo Gofa on US$1000 bail.
The complainant is Nicola Ruth Dickinson.
The court heard that in December 2021, Bass approached Dickinson with a business proposal of importing goods from South Africa to Zimbabwe for resale to a leading supermarket chain in this country.
Bass allegedly misrepresented that he had orders and was not able to supply on his own because he did not have enough capital.
The two agreed that Dickinson would invest US$200 000 while Bass was to invest US$300 000 to start a company.
Bass went on to tell Dickinson that he was going to register the company, called Wireline Investments, and was also going to open a bank account where the investment money would be deposited and also for business transactions.
After the registration of the company and opening of the corporate account, Bass received US$200 000 from Dickinson and the money was to be deposited into the bank account.
When Dickinson made a follow-up on whether Bass had deposited her money and also on whether he had deposited his part of the deal, he became evasive.
This prompted Dickinson to approach the bank where she was advised that there was no business account or money that had been deposited.
She then filed a police report and nothing was recovered.
Mathew Masinge
Online Reporter