Clark Clever
Makoni and his wife Beverly Aisha Ndonda Makoni are facing fraud allegations,
which they have denied.
The State
alleges that in July 2017, Gono engaged the services of the couple to manage
Valley Lodge (Pvt) Ltd, among some of his other properties.
The State
alleges that the couple forged a CR14 Form for Valley Lodge (Pvt) Ltd in which
Clark appointed himself a director and company secretary and Beverly as a
director.
Gono brought
the issue of age saying it was getting difficult for him to remember some
details, such as dates, without reference because of his advanced age.
This became a
point of argument by the defence saying it was difficult to “trust his evidence
because he was getting forgetful because of his advanced age.”
When pressed by
the defence, Gono told the court that he was “retracting the age statement”
stating that it had been taken out of context by the defence.
This came after
he had been pressed to state the exact date he engaged the couple to manage his
businesses, with him resorting to saying it was sometime in 2017.
The former RBZ
chief told regional magistrate Stanford Mambanje that when the matter came to
light, Clark initiated a meeting and apologised before agreeing to pay
US$50,000 as compensation.
He said the
deed of settlement did not materialise because Beverly was not present and she
refused to sign the papers, adding that Clark never returned to him for the
agreement to be sealed.
The defence,
led by Admire Rubaya, said the alleged agreement did not state what the money
was for.
Gono was also
taken to task for signing documents which described Clark as the Managing
Director and Beverly as the Finance Director contrary to allegations that the
two installed themselves when they forged documents.
The defence
said Clark was arrested and detained twice by the police and ZACC over the same
allegations.
The case
continues on July 11. H Metro
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