Zvikomborero Parafini
A HARARE car dealer has been charged with fraud related to car duty rebates for civil servants.
Conwell Tanaka Muchenje, director of Evast Online, appeared before Harare magistrate Donald Ndirowei yesterday and was released on US$300 bail on the condition that he does not interfere with State witnesses.
The case concerns Muchenje’s alleged payment of a deposit to Tida Zim Motors in Eastlea for an Audi Q4 through the civil servants’ rebate scheme.
Muchenje is accused of working with his co-accused Never Nyatsine, a former human resources officer at Ministry of Local Government and Public Works, to generate a fake rebate letter enabling them to import the car without paying duty.
The court heard that in September last year, Muchenje approached Tida Zim Motors in Eastlea, which buys cars for clients through Be-Forward Japan.
He chose an Audi Q4 and paid US$1 540 deposit and indicated that he intended to import it using the civil servants’ rebate scheme and produced a copy of a national identity card belonging to Francis Mutizwa Samuriwo.
It is the State’s case that Muchenje worked with his co-accused, Nyatsine.
Muchenje was given a copy of Samuriwo’s ID for use in generating the invoice to be used for applying to import the vehicle under the Civil Servants Motor Vehicle Rebate Scheme.
A fake rebate letter was generated and the car was imported without paying duty because ZIMRA officials were hoodwinked into believing the vehicle belonged to a civil servant.