Mbada Diamonds loses $170 000 diesel

By Abel Zhakata

MUTARE – At least 17 people have been arrested — 12 of them Mbada Diamonds employees — on allegations of defrauding the Chiadzwa diamond-mining company of diesel worth more than $170 000.

The scam, which was unearthed recently, started in September last year and has sucked in five haulage truck drivers who delivered the fuel to the diamond plant. They have since appeared before senior Mutare magistrate Mr Noah Gwatidzo on fraud allegations.

The employees, led by Crimson Mandizvidza, are being represented by Mr Victor Chinzamba of Mugadza, Chinzamba and Partners, while the haulage truck drivers — Tendai Siyamanyanga (32), Victor Chigama (43), Chiyambakezo Namanja (32), Richard Muungani (45) and Ceasar Jangara (35) — have Mr Farai Matinhure of Gonese, Ndlovu Legal Practitioners as their defence counsel.

Detectives first arrested the workers last week following an internal audit at the mine that unearthed the fraud, while the truck drivers were nabbed a week later as investigations into the matter continued.

The employees were arraigned before the courts last Tuesday, while the drivers appeared before Mr Gwatidzo on Monday. Allegations are that the accused persons connived to steal the diesel from September 14 to December 5 last year.

“The accused persons, employed as drivers of fuel delivery trucks and acting in consort with employees of Mbada Diamonds attached to its stores department being eight and four security guards, made a misrepresentation by intentionally falsifying fuel meter readings such that closing metre readings differed from opening metre readings so as to create a variance in diesel delivered.

“As such, the accused persons then retained the variance of the diesel which they used for their own benefit thereby causing an actual prejudice to Mbada Diamonds. In their modus operandi, the accused persons stole 143 080 litres of diesel in total and nothing was recovered,” read the State papers.

There are several witnesses that are willing to testify in court and the State is also in possession of delivery notes that clearly show that the accused persons were on duty when the fraud took place.

The value of the stolen diesel is $174 304.

Detectives handling the case revealed on Wednesday that more people were involved in the alleged scandal and thus arrests were imminent at the diamond mining company.

The suspects were granted $100 bail each and the case goes for trial on January 23. Manica Post