The accused persons include Farai Muchena the chief
executive officer, Victor Chaipa the group strategy and performance executive,
Cosmas Mukwesha the group secretary, Polite Mugwagwa, Alexander Cecilia, the
PSMAS Board chairperson and his vice Wellington Tutisa.
The court called an investigating officer from Zimbabwe
Anti-Corruption Commission, Mr Eric Chacha to the witness stand who revealed that
the money siphoned from PSMAS could be more than US$1 million. However, the
accused persons tried to exonerate themselves claiming that their hands are
clean.
It is the state’s case that sometime in 2020, the PSMAS
Board, with the objective of generating the much-needed foreign currency for
the procurement of pharmaceutical drugs and other related medical equipment,
passed a resolution to the effect that its management ventures into buying and
selling of gold.
It was further resolved that staff members from its
procurement department were to act as buyers and agents for buying the gold on
behalf of the society, before the quartet of Muchena, Chaipa, Mukwesha and
Mugwagwa allegedly diverted the money for their personal use.
Wellington Tutisa and Cecelia Alexander are facing three
counts of theft and contravening the Public Finance Act.
It is the state’s case that Tutisa and Alexander were
appointed to the board of PSMI as board chairperson and vice board chairperson,
for the period covering 2019 to July 2022, before they awarded each board
member hefty yearly holiday allowances well-knowing that the board members were
not entitled to the benefit. – ZBC News
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