A CHEEKY Harare man allegedly duped several elderly people
of amounts ranging between $400 and $600 whom he made to believe had qualified
to access $10 500 from First Lady Auxillia Mnangagwa’s empowerment fund.
The 50-year-old man collected the money as “administration
fees”, which he said was a prerequisite to unlock funds from the non-existent
fund.
Charles Muchineripi’s victims were mostly elderly women
whom he made to deposit the money into an EcoCash account he supplied.
Investigations showed that the account was registered in
the name of Kenneth Mark, who was not in any way linked to the criminal
activities.
According to police investigations, Muchineripi reportedly
asked for Mark’s identity document on the pretext he had secured a job for him
at NSSA where his national registration card was required.
He then used the document to fraudulently register an
Econet line before opening an EcoCash account.
Muchineripi appeared in court on Monday before magistrate
Mrs Judith Taruvinga charged with fraud and the matter was rolled over to
yesterday for bail ruling after prosecutor Mr Lawrence Gangarahwe strongly
opposed it.
His lawyer, Mr Dumisani Mthombeni, submitted that his
client was of fixed abode hence was a suitable candidate for bail. He said
Muchineripi was a farmer in Mazowe.
However, after hearing submissions from both parties, the
court ruled in favour of the State and remanded Muchineripi in custody to May
5.
The court said it was not in the interest of justice to
grant him bail.
“Courts will not grant bail when the release of an accused
person will jeopardise the interests of justice. According to the State, the
accused person provided three addresses and occupants at the first address said
they did not know him. Investigations are still ongoing and it is premature to
consider bail at this stage until all is verified,” she said.
The State alleged that between March and April 18 this
year, Muchineripi fraudulently opened an EcoCash account in the name of Kenneth
Mark.
He then manufactured a fake message and sent it to several
victims after randomly picking phone numbers.
The message suggested that the selected recipients had been
nominated to receive $10 500 empowerment project funds from the First Family.
He then instructed the complainants to deposit varying
amounts ranging between $400 to $600 which he said was an administration fee
for processing the money.
Because of the misrepresentation, some of the victims
complied and sent the said amounts of money to Muchineripi.
Muchineripi allegedly converted the money to his personal
use and the police are still working with the mobile money service provider so
that they get a print-out of the EcoCash transactions to establish the amounts
and number of people duped. Herald
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