MAGUNJE Zanu PF legislator Cecil Kashiri appeared in court
facing fraud charges after allegedly conniving with Zimbabwe Revenue Authority
(Zimra) officers to evade payment of import duty for a vehicle he imported from
South Africa last year.
Kashiri appeared before Harare magistrate Barbra Mateko on
Saturday and was released on bail before the case was remanded to April 23
pending finalisation of investigations.
The complainant is the State represented by Zimra loss
control manager Sereki Mapfeka.
Allegations are that
from September to December 31 last year, Kashiri hatched a plan to defraud
Zimra by importing a Ford Ranger from South Africa without paying customs duty.
The court heard on September 4, Kashiri engaged a customs
officer who is yet to be arrested and used a bill of entry C4003 meant for
goods imported by Murowa Diamonds dated February 6 purporting it to be for the
Ford Ranger.
A customs clearance certificate was subsequently processed
for the vehicle and Kashiri misrepresented that he had paid duty for the car
knowing fully that the duty was for goods imported by Murowa Diamonds.
On September 11, Kashiri went to Zimra and connived with a
customs officer who wrote and signed a letter on behalf of the manager
indicating that the legislator had lost his original customs clearance
certificate.
The Zimra officer further misrepresented that the Ford
Ranger had been cleared for registration yet that had not been done in
compliance with the law.
On September 13, Kashiri and the Zimra officer avoided
involving other officers in the deal to avoid detection.
They allegedly went
to the same Zimra officer who had assisted them in writing a letter on behalf
of the manager and got him to enter the Ford Ranger into the system.
It was alleged that the State suffered financial prejudice
of US$3 646,79 in unpaid duty and nothing was recovered. Daily News
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