Zanu PF league members from Bulawayo, Blessed Mushando (34)
and Mtunzi Mabhena (34) who are set to appear in court in June before Harare
magistrate Taurai Manuwere are said to have used the top ruling party
official’s name to illegally get money from the Chinese company.
Mushando, Mabhena and Max Mpungu (32), who are cited as the
first, second and third accused persons respectively, are facing eight fraud
charges and a count of extortion.
According to court papers, Mushando is listed as the Zanu
PF Bulawayo youth league chairperson and Mabhena, a committee member.
The case was investigated by the Police Anti-Corruption
Unit (PACU) under DR 03/09/20209.
The complainant is True Double Investment (Pvt) Limited, a
company into alluvial gold mining registered in Zimbabwe. It is represented by
one of its managing directors Cheng Minghua.
Prosecutors are alleging that sometime in October 2O18,
Minghua was introduced by his friend Mike Kutsoko to Mushando and Mabhena.
Mushando indicated that he was the secretary to the then
vice-president Mohadi, who resigned in 2021 after he was caught up in a sex
scandal.
He remains Zanu PF’s second in command.
It is alleged that on a date unknown to the state, but in
October 2018, Mushando and Mabhena arranged for a meeting with Minghua at
Holiday Inn Hotel, Harare.
Minghua attended the meeting with his co-director, Chong
Yongde.
During the meeting, Mushando and Mabhena told the
complainants that they should engage Mohadi if they wanted a gold mining
licence.
They claimed that Mohadi needed US$20 000 to facilitate the
deal, and they were given the money.
Prosecutors, say there was never such an agreement with
Mohadi.
A week later, Mushando and Mabhena claimed to have arranged
another meeting with Mohadi and they went to his office with the complainants.
They met Mohadi, but he allegedly did not mention anything
to do with money and instead promised to help the investors in establishing the
mine.
It is alleged that after a few days, Mushando and Mabhena
visited the complainants indicating that officials at the Mines ministry in Matabeleland South needed US$17
000 as facilitation fees.
It is alleged that on April 10, 2019, Mushando and Mabhena
were hosted by Minghua and his co-director Laura Melane where the duo indicated that Mohadi was not
happy with the delayed payments.
They warned the Chinese investors that they risked losing
out on the deal to some Russian miners.
“(The) complainant then indicated that he would want to
personally hand over the money to the
vice-president and accused one later called purportedly to facilitate a meeting
between complainant and the vice president,” court papers read.
“In the company of his co-director Yongde, (the)
complainant drove and met accused one at Holiday lnn, Harare, car park from
there they drove to the vice-president’s office.
“At the vice-president’s office, complainant and his
co-director handed over US$5 000 to accused one and were left in the waiting
room while accused one proceeded to arrange the meeting.
“Accused one later returned indicating that the
vice-president was too busy that he could not see them and had handed over the
money to the vice-president's secretary, which never was the case.”
Prosecutors alleged that the duo hatched a plan to defraud
the complainants and they forged a receipt number RC1300 with a value of US$5
900 purporting it had originated from Umguza District Council for mining
levies.
The prosecutors said sometime in September 2019, the
complainants were approached by the duo and they indicated that Mohadi had some
problems with his cattle farming project and needed US$8 000.
The complainants refused to give them more money.
However, the complainant later received a call from Mpungu
who claimed he was Mohadi’s son and needed the money,
It is alleged the complainants asked him to come and
collect the money in person, but Mpungu refused saying he was at the airport
en-route to South Africa and they gave the money to the duo.
The state alleged that the complainant lost US$110 400 and
nothing was recovered. Standard
0 comments:
Post a Comment