Detectives arrested a Harare businessman Tendekai
Madongorere and Julius Punungwe before seizing 113 fake driving licence discs
and certificates of competence with names of aspiring drivers, five fake
defensive driving certificates, five card printers used to produce the
documents, fake blank national identity cards, one fake Zimra tax clearance
certificate, one fake deed of grant in respect of a Mufakose house, 29 copies
of serialised birth record documents and nine copies of birth certificates.
A fake Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) identity
card in the name of Madongorere was also recovered together with fake Central
Intelligence Organisation (CIO) identity cards bearing the names of Innocent
Kayo, Edmund Mhere and Tichaona Chijwanha.
The arrest of the suspects and the seizure of documents
occurred barely three months after The Herald carried an investigative story in
which fraudsters were advertising on social media that they can facilitate
issuance of driving licences within hours.
On the advertisements, they would provide contact cellphone
numbers to be used for enquiries.
Madongorere (48) is a director of Impact Designs Private
Limited which operates in Harare’s central business district while Punungwe
(47) is unemployed.
The Herald established that from interviews conducted by
the police, most of the 113 people whose names appear on the fraudulent driving
licence documents, confirmed to have paid US$250 each for the discs.
The people in question, are expected to give evidence as
State witnesses in the trial of the two suspects.
Detectives at Chitungwiza Police Station received
information that some fraudsters were printing forged official documents
selling them to people in Harare and Chitungwiza.
Acting on the tip-off, police arrested Madongorere in
Harare with three blank fake international driver’s licence documents, fake
birth record forms, five fake defensive driving certificates and a fake ZACC
identity card bearing his name.
At his house in Waterfalls, police recovered 50 fake driving
certificates of competence bearing the names of various clients, CIO identity
cards, fake Covid-19 essential staff cards fake Cambridge O-Level and A-Level
certificates, a desktop computer, 400 blank national identity cards, three fake
diploma certificates, a fake Zimra tax clearance certificate, a fake title deed
for a Mufakose property and other dubious papers.
Madongorere then implicated Punungwe who was subsequently
arrested.
Police also recovered 58 fake metal driving licence discs
bearing different names of clients, one date stamp, fake national identity
cards and other fraudulent documents.
The two are in custody, having lost two freedom bids at
Chitungwiza Magistrates’ Court and the High Court. They are now back at
Chitungwiza Court with a fresh freedom bid dubbed “application for bail pending
trial on changed circumstances”.
A magistrate is yet to determine the application. In April
this year, two Herald journalists responded to one of the advertisements
circulating on WhatsApp groups and had long chats with the scammers.
One of the advertisements read: “We will take you all the
way from the provisional licence to getting a metal disc, all delivery made
within a day and not more than three days for those clients living in and out
of Zimbabwe (through Swift, Zimpost, Courier Connect, Fedex, DHL . . . Please
note that we only offer original documents, the licences will be in the VID
system. In need of a driver’s licence in Zimbabwe, take advantage of this
amazing opportunity to get driving licence in no time. It’s simple, fast,
reliable and genuine VID deals”.
The Herald responded to the advertisement and communicated
using the given WhatsApp number (0779 146 852). The man using the line
identified himself as Nelson but a check with EcoCash showed that the line was
registered in the name of one Tafara Jacob Madhlira.
The WhatsApp profile picture that was used by the
fraudsters, was downloaded from an online story where TSCZ and Road Rules
entered a partnership in 2016.
The picture shows representatives of TSCZ and Road Rules
signing the memorandum of agreement for TSCZ to provide the Road Rules mobile
app with approved content on Zimbabwe traffic regulations, useful to aspiring
drivers.
The Herald Investigations Editor posed as a someone in need
of a Class Two driving licence and was quoted US$200. The man asked for an
initial payment of $2 000 to enable him to start working on the document
promising to deliver in a day.
For the deposit, the man asked the writer to send via
EcoCash on 0780508294, a line registered under a different name: “Kurai Rongayi
Makore”.
When the payment was not instant, the man called using a
different number 0772 255 640 registered in the name of one “Tawanda Chando”
until the money was transferred.
The man went quiet for some hours until he asked the writer
to send a head-and-shoulder picture for use in the production of a licence. He
then sent a soft copy of a licence disc bearing the picture of the writer but
without a name and other details, as proof that it was now work in progress.
The man demanded an additional $3 000 saying the disc had
now been processed but the manufacturers wanted their payment.
After payment of the $3 000 was done, the man became
slippery avoiding the writer, until it became clear the man was a fraudster.
Another journalist from The Herald separately responded to
the same advert and was charged US$120 for a Class Four licence.
He was asked to deposit $2 000 on a different EcoCash
number (0779 146 852), the one used for WhatsApp communication and it was
registered in the name of Tafara Jacob Madhlira.
Using the same modus operandi, the fraudster told the
journalist that he had connections at VID and Central Vehicle Registry (CVR)
and that once the disc is produced, the details will be punched into the CVR
system.
However, The Herald had already established that the man
was a fraudster and ended the chat without paying anything. Herald
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