HARARE – Controversial businessmen, Moses Mpofu (49) and Mike Chimombe (43), are set to face trial in the High Court’s Anti-Corruption Court on fraud charges, with one of their cases scheduled for a continuous hearing from October 1 to 4, 2024.
The two Zanu-PF members who are facing fraud charges involving more than US$7 million connected to the presidential goat scheme, have been indicted to the Harare High Court, Anti-Corruption Court for trial.
According to the The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), allegations are that the accused persons forged a Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA) Tax clearance certificate and a National Social Security Authority (NSSA) compliance certificate in the name of Blackdeck Private Limited and attached them in a bidding document which they submitted to the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Water, Fisheries and Rural Development for a tender for the supply and delivery of goats for the Presidential Goat Pass-on Scheme.
They allegedly misrepresented that the company was in full compliance with ZIMRA and NSSA requirements. Investigations indicated that the QR code and the reference on the NSSA compliance certificate were issued to a different company.
It was further established that Blackdeck Private limited was deregistered from the NSSA system in January 2016.
Further investigations by the State established that Blackdeck Private Limited was not issued with a ZIMRA tax clearance certificate for the year 2021 and that the QR code on the forged tax clearance certificate belonged to a different company.
Acting on the misrepresentation, the Ministry of Lands contracted Blackdeck Private Limited on the 3rd of November 2021.
The Ministry allegedly transferred ZWL901 294 200 and ZWL698 705 800 on the 21st of April 2022 and the 29th of June 2022 respectively into their bank account.
The total amount was ZWL1.6 billion and was equivalent to US$7 712 197. Following delays in delivery of the goats, the Ministry of Lands officials reportedly made several engagements with the accused persons.
The accused persons allegedly misrepresented that they had mobilised 32 500 goats across the provinces which were ready to be distributed to the beneficiaries.
However, a verification process revealed that the accused persons only had 3 713 goats in their holding sites. The Ministry canceled the contract on the 29th of August 2022, following the discovery.
The accused persons only supplied a total of 4 208 goats valued at US$331 445 and went on to convert US$7 380 751 to their personal use. Nothing was recovered.
The two businessmen are also implicated in a US$9.2 million streetlights corruption scandal, which has seen several Harare City Council officials being arrested including the Town Clerk Hosiah Chisango.
Discover more from Nehanda Radio
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
