Petrotrade saga: Audit director implicated in rot

By Nigel Pfunde and Philemon Jambaya | Zim Morning Post |

The Internal Audit Manager for State-owned fuel marketing and distribution company Petrotrade Erisha Bokoro has been implicated in the alleged ongoing corruption activities at the entity, Zim Morning Post can reveal.

This follows scathing accusations against the Acting Chief Executive Officer Godfrey Ncube, who is fingered in bleeding the state-owned entity through rampant corruption.

Ncube is alleged to have presided over massive theft of petrol and diesel to the tune of 300,000 litres a year which he explained away as environmental factors.

It has emerged that his audit manager Bokoro was also complicit and impeccable sources told this publication that he worked in cahoots with Ncube.

“Bokoro worked in cahoots with Ncube and they both rose to their respective positions under controversial circumstances. Any serious court of law will deem the two not fit and proper for their current positions, remember Ncube is not only under-qualified but even failed a psychometric test during the recruitment process,” revealed a highly placed source.

“Bokoro tried to cover up an attempt by Ncube to siphon money through overstating the amount for a Letter of Credit cash cover with Stanbic Bank,” the source added.

Sources further allege that Bokoro turned a blind eye to the alleged looting at Petrotrade as he was a beneficiary of the micro-management of the state company to their personal benefits outside the confines of a board.

According to documents at hand, Bokoro was ‘sleeping on duty’ with quick reference to the construction of Mabvuku Service Station without a contract, in complete negation of PRAZ regulations.

Bokoro, in his capacity as head of the internal audit department, was obliged to have raised a red flag over this matter, insiders say.

He neglected to act as such since he also allegedly diverted some fuel to his private business, Katelish Investments, trading as KE Motors.

Zim Morning Post has seen the company documents which enlist him as director and all business correspondence is addressed to him.

“He is in the habit of diverting fuelf to his company and farm in Mhangura. He also sells fertilizers and uses company resources. His position is not based on merit but on the war credentials that he claims,” said another source.

However, Zim Morning Post gleaned his curriculum vitae and his highest qualification is an Executive Masters Degree in Business administration and is also a graduate of Herbert Chitepo School of Ideology.

He has also served in the police force before taking up politics where he contested in the ruling party’s primary elections but was trounced by Douglas Mombeshora in Mhangura.

He cited all this in his resume , a copy of which leaked to the Zim Morning Post.

Our sources further alleged that after pressure mounted on Bokoro, he authored a report on February 27 stating his findings on the irregular construction of Mabvuku Service Station without a contract – a violation of corporate governance tenets.

This report was directed to the board chairperson and audit committee.

Interestingly, he made a somersault and ‘hammered’ Ncube five years after the anomalies.
He also cited that the signed contract form was missing in the company files.

“The construction went through a procurement process that resulted in an award of a contract to construct a Canopy and Ancilliary Facilities given to Safeage Pvt Ltd The contract is referenced PT/FCA/01/2017. Almost five years down the lane, the contract is still to terminate, despite it now being out of agreed time frame. The signed contract document is missing from Petrotrade records and cannot be located in any other third party offices where it was expected to be found,” submitted Bokoro.

In this instance, there is therefore no documentary evidence to prove that the contract was signed or not.

Bokoro went on to turn against his perceived ally Ncube , when he noted that the Acting CEO could not remember whether he signed or not the contract in a typical case of selective amnesia.

“Audit sought to understand how far he (Ncube) went into handling this contract document “Initially , he said he could not remember whether he signed it or not until he had to resort to records like the Minutes of site meetings. He contends that when the drafting of contract is complete and is satisfied with arrangements in it, he signs and gets it out of his office to relevant offices. On this particular , he could not recall what exactly happened after signing. On 28 September 2017 , the day of handing over site to the contractor, the contract had not been signed, ” further submitted Bokoro in his report.

This development is irregular since ordinarily, that project should not have kicked off with a signed contract.

Relentless efforts to get a comment from Bokoro proved fruitless as his mobile phone was not reachable , while the office number provided to this publication went unanswered at the time of writing.