Agribank duped of $252 579,76

By Prosper Dembedza

A systems administrator with financial service provider Kelhead (Private) Limited, trading as Zimbabwe Shared Service, appeared in court on allegations of defrauding Agribank of $252 579,76.

Tafadzwa Kelvin Badza (age not supplied) was facing fraud and money laundering charges when he appeared before Harare magistrate Mrs Barbra Mateko.

He was granted $500 bail.

As part of his bail conditions, Badza was ordered to surrender his travelling documents with the clerk of court.

He was also ordered to continue residing at his given address, not to interfere with witnesses and to report to the police twice a week on Mondays and Fridays.

It is alleged that sometime in September, Badza opened two open personal instant Agribank accounts number 5048759001670979 and 5048759002522252.

Prosecutor Mr Sebastian Mutizirwa told the court that during the period extending from September 2018 to April 29 this year, Badza manipulated the Agribank computer system from his workplace by transferring funds from Agribank pool account and credited his two accounts with a cumulative figure of $252 579,76.

The court heard that thereafter, Badza would use his mobile phone accounts to transfer money into various accounts and converted the money to his own use.

The offence was discovered by Agribank ICT technicians when they compared data from Zimbabwe Shared Service and Agribank systems.

On the second count of money laundering, it is alleged that in an effort to disguise the true nature of the stolen funds, Badza transferred it into several bank accounts before using some of the stolen funds to buy a Mazda 3 registration number AEP7221.

Liberty Chirenje of Makuku Law Firm is representing Badza. The Herald