Couple who allegedly stole from Gono’s Valley Lodge appear in court

A couple who allegedly forged documents that allowed them to take over property and directorship of a company owned by former Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor Gideon Gono have appeared in court.

Clark Clever Makoni and his wife Beverly Aisha Makoni forged documents that allowed them to take over directorship of Gono’s property company and then steal more than US$85 000 from its account.

The Makoni’s appeared before Harare Magistrate Dennis Mangosi charged with fraud. The husband, Clark, was remanded in custody awaiting his bail application on Tuesday.

The pair who own Ark Investments, used a forged CR14 form to the Registrar of Companies and took over Gono’s Valley Lodge (Pvt) Ltd.

Gono engaged the services of Makoni and his wife to offer services of estate management to lodges amongst other properties and in return they were to be paid through a monthly 5 percent commission.

Clark Clever Makoni appointed himself as director and company secretary while Beverly Makoni as director.

Armed with this forged CR 14, Makoni and wife approached ZB Bank Mutare branch where Valley Lodge kept their money.

The two misrepresented to the bank that there were now the new owners of Valley Lodge [Pvt] Ltd and wanted to change the signatories.

At the bank Clark acted as the managing director while his wife was the finance director.

The bank then changed the signatory card, the two appended their signatures on the bank signatory card and fraudulently took over Valley Lodge while gaining access to the account.

On top of the existing 12 employees employed at Valley Lodge, Makoni and wife employed four more employees, and awarded themselves monthly salaries at an inflated black market rate of US$ 1 to $16 000 to defraud the lodge.

Makoni and wife used the stolen money to buy properties which are yet to be identified.