admin
Prosper Dembedza Herald Correspondent
A 42-year-old Zambezi Drift Safaris Sales and Marketing consultant has appeared in court on allegations of defrauding his employer of US$132 733.
Byron Rocher was facing fraud charges when he appeared before Harare Magistrate Mrs Marehwanazvo Gofa.
He was released on US$500 bail.
The complainant is Dunhuramambo (Private) Limited, trading as Zambezi Cruise and Safaris Zimbabwe and is in the business of offering tourism services.
The court heard that sometime in February 2020, the complainant employed a new bookkeeper, Sandra Mackay Theresa, aged 70 years, who was responsible for issuing petty cash to staff, including the accused, and generating salaries for low-level employees. In turn, the accused would countersign on every payment to be made, and serve for his salary that was prepared by his superiors.
It is the State’s case that the accused then hatched a plan to abuse his position of authority, and also take advantage of the age of the bookkeeper. Thereafter, and during the period extending from November 17, 2020, to December 31 2022, the accused and on several occasions, generated petty cash requests for various reasons, ranging from payment of school fees, salary, medical expenses etc, and submitted to the bookkeeper for processing.
In turn, the bookkeeper processed the fraudulent payments without questioning her immediate supervisor (the accused), she acted on the misrepresentation and disbursed the money as and when the money was requested.
During the same period and using the same modus operandi, the accused also misrepresented to Jacqueline Parsons, the bookkeeper of the complainant’s sister company in South Africa named Zambezi Cruise South Africa (Private) Limited, and further instructed her to make his personal payments for various expenses incurred in that country, well knowing that he was not entitled to that money and privileges.
The offence came to light when the complainant employed a new qualified accountant, who discovered that the accused was getting his salary, and also went on to fraudulently obtain cash from the bookkeeper, as well as having his own expenses paid by the company in South Africa.
As a result of the accused person’s actions, the complainant suffered an actual prejudice of US$132 733.
Online Reporter