Nssa fights client over $16m
By Tarisai Machakaire
The National Social Security Authority (Nssa) has dragged a local company to court claiming they were duped $16 million in a housing construction deal.
Masimba Xmas Shumba, 44, a chief finance officer at Housing Corporation Zimbabwe (Hcz) appeared before Harare magistrate Milton Serima charged with money laundering on Friday.
He was granted $2 000 bail and ordered to surrender his passport, continue residing at his present address and not interfere with investigations.
According to State papers, sometime in 2016 Nssa set its target to deliver 10 000 housing units to the public.
The court heard that in May 2017, a prominent local businessman, Adam Molai, connived with former Nssa chairperson Robin Vela and came up with a Housing Africa Corporation (Hac) proposal for consideration by Nssa to build the 10 000 houses.
Hac is purported to be a foreign company based in Mauritius and is owned by Molai.
It was alleged that on June 30, Vela was aware that Molai, Stephen Duggan and Alec Nyatanga had no capacity to construct the said houses and that they had never carried out such a project.
The court heard that Vela and his accomplices then misrepresented to other Nssa board members that Hac had the capacity to deliver the 10 000 houses resulting in a resolution being passed for a contract to be given for the construction of 8 000 of the houses.
In a bid to conceal the offence, Molai, Duggan and Nyatanga formed a Housing Africa Corporation Zimbabwe (Haz) and made themselves directors three days after the contract had been given to Hac by Nssa.
In July 14 last year, Nssa entered into a Housing Offtake Agreement with Hcz where Shumba is finance director and a total payment of $16 million was transferred into the company’s Ecobank account.
After receiving the $16 million, between August 17 last year and March 30, the accused persons knowing that the funds were proceeds of crime and for the purposes of concealing the illicit origin of the money laundered the money.
The court heard that $540 000 was transferred to Mazsing (Private) Limited, $488 000 to Emillia Mbemba’s Ecobank account, $220 000 to Cangate (Private) Limited, $470 000 to Torque Distributors and $323 750 to M. Sabir Patel Family Trust.
Investigations revealed that the amounts transferred to those companies and Mbemba had nothing to do with the purpose for which the funds were initially transferred for but for money laundering. DailyNews