Givemore Tapera appeared before Harare magistrate Mr Dennis
Mangosi charged with fraud and was remanded in custody pending bail application
today.
The State opposed bail because Tapera had two previous
convictions.
Prosecuting, Mr Thomas Chanakira said sometime in 2019, the
client had been defrauded of the US$1 million in a construction project.
In an effort to recover his money, that complainant
approached a friend also based in the United Kingdom, who referred him to
Tapera, saying she had once been assisted by him in recovering her money.
It is alleged that the complainant contacted Tapera through
WhatsApp calls, and he told the complainant that as a lawyer he had the
capacity to recover the money through applications for court orders at the High
Court against the person who had defrauded him.
He then convinced the complainant to send him money for
processing the High Court orders.
Tapera, who is not a lawyer, then forged High Court orders
supposedly issued by the High Court in Masvingo, Mutare and Harare.
He used the forged documents to convince the complainant to
send more money to process the documents.
Tapera also lied to the complainant that he had attached
some vehicles and property in Mutare and requested money to cater for the
drivers whom he said were supposed to drive the vehicles from Mutare to Harare.
The court heard that the complainant sent money on 24
occasions to Tapera using World Remit and on four occasions, he collected the
money from the complainant’s nephew.
It is understood that the complainant discovered the
offence when he requested for registration books and title deeds of the
recovered property, but Tapera failed to provide any.
The complainant then made a report to the police and
investigations were carried out, leading to Tapera’s arrest. Herald
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