A Bulawayo couple accused of taking advantage of a technical glitch at Stanbic Bank Zimbabwe and allegedly spending over US$30 000 in Zimbabwe and South Africa is set to hear its fate today
Frank Sibanda
(65) and his wife, Fransisca Netsai Sibanda (65), of Pelandaba suburb, appeared
before Bulawayo regional magistrate Mrs Dambudzo Malunga facing 47 counts of
theft.
The Sibandas
have denied the charges, insisting they believed the funds were deposited by
their daughter, Rudo Sibanda, who lives in Harare.
The State has
since closed its case after calling two witnesses. The couple is currently out
on US$500 bail each, with conditions requiring them to surrender their
passports, report twice a week at Bulawayo Central Police Station and remain at
their registered address.
The prosecutor
Mr Owen Mugari told the court that on February 5 last year, Fransisca opened a
Silver banking segment account at Stanbic Bank’s Joshua Nkomo Street branch.
This was after her daughter, Rudo, falsely declared that her mother was an
employee of her company, Cominergy Construction Mining Energy, based in Harare.
Fransisca was
issued a Visa chip-and-PIN card (number partially withheld for security
reasons) to transact on the account.
The alleged
fraud began on April 5, when Fransisca attempted to make a US$17,95 purchase at
National Foods Bulawayo using a Steward Bank point of sale (POS) machine. The
transaction failed.
As part of
standard interbank processes, Steward Bank attempted to reverse the failed
transaction through ZimSwitch. However, due to an error, the reversal was
processed with an overstated amount of ZWG579 116,21, which was mistakenly
auto-converted and credited into Fransisca’s Stanbic US dollar account. This
resulted in an unexpected deposit of US$40 850,86.
The alleged
fraud came to light after a routine forensic audit by Stanbic Bank uncovered
discrepancies in its records, leading to the couple’s arrest. Chronicle
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