The Sunday Mail
Online Reporter
A FORMER accountant expenditure at the Zimbabwe Manpower Development Fund (ZIMDEF) has been dragged before the courts facing two counts of fraud.
Geofree Nyagadza (35) who resides at Block 10169/G2 Willowvale Flats, Harare appeared before Harare magistrate, Mrs Yeukai Dzuda, on allegations of defrauding ZIMDEF of $4 million.
Nyagadza was arrested on March 03, 2022.
Prosecutor, Ms Lynntte Gwarisa, said the accused was the accountant expenditure at ZIMDEF before he resigned on February 14, 2022.
His duties included forwarding the approved payment instructions to the CBZ Bank and were also supposed to forward to CBZ the excel schedule of the payment for uploading.
During the period November 25, 2020 to January 8, 2022, the accused – who is a tenant at ZIMDEF Willowvale flats – allegedly doctored receipts and proof of payment purportedly to show that he had transferred a total of $135 981 from his First Capital Bank account into ZIMDEF for rentals.
The informant obtained a bank statement which he went through and discovered that the accused did not transfer any money meant for rentals from his First Capital Bank account into the mentioned ZIMDEF CBZ account, and concluded that the invoice and receipts were fake.
As a result of the accused’s actions, the complainant suffered an actual prejudice of $135 981 and nothing was recovered.
On the second count, between March 04, 2021 and December 17, 2021, the accused altered payment schedules to instruct CBZ Bank to transfer money from the ZIMDEF CBZ account to Market Force Trading, a company that deals with stationery and information technology (IT) materials to the tune of $4 million.
The accused allegedly emailed the doctored payment schedules to CBZ Bank, which processed the payments.
When the money was reflected in the Market Force Trading account, the accused collected stationery and IT materials with equivalence in value from Market Force Trading which he signed for on the invoices and purportedly on behalf of ZIMDEF.
The accused converted the stationery and IT materials to his own use and the complainant never had any business with Market Force Trading.
The total value stolen is $4 000 173,17 and nothing was recovered.
The accused was denied bail and remanded in custody to March 28.
