By Zvikomborero Parafini
Former deputy minister of information Bright Matonga was hauled to court over a botched deal involving US$10 000.
Matonga, 51, and his alleged accomplice Onesmo Ndoro 47, were not asked to plead when they appeared before Harare magistrate Barbra Mateko.
The duo were released on $300 bail and were remanded to June 27.
Allegations are that the complainant Kelvin Chipeta who is a Malawian national based in South Africa at a company called Kukaya Solutions got an order from a USA company to acquire demonetised Zimbabwean trillion dollar notes which prompted Chipeta to contact Matonga on WhatsApp and inquired whether he was able to supply him with the notes.
Matonga referred Chitepa to Ndoro who subsequently confirmed that he was able to supply him with the notes and was licensed to deal with those notes in Zimbabwe.
Both parties agreed that they would supply 3000 notes for a fee of US$10 000.
Chipeta and his partner came to Zimbabwe with the agreed amount which they declared at the customs office.
Matonga and his accomplice allegedly received the two at the Robert Mugabe International Airport and went to a restaurant in Alex Park and held a round table meeting finalising the modalities of the deal.
It is further alleged that Chipeta handed over the US$10 000 to Ndoro who gave it to Matonga for counting while he left the restaurant purporting that he was going to collect the bearer notes but never returned. H Metro
