Zvikomborero Parafini
A COUPLE is facing charges of fraud at the Harare Magistrates Courts for allegedly forging documents and taking over directorship of Valley Lodges (Pvt) Ltd before stealing money from its account.
Clark Clever Makoni and his wife, Beverly Aisha Makoni, who own Ark Investments, allegedly started siphoning money from Valley Lodges’ account from 2017.
The State is yet to establish the total amount of money the couple allegedly stole from the company.
The Makonis are said to have used fraudulent documents to impose themselves as signatories of Valley Lodge’s account at ZB Bank and made several withdrawals of funds for personal use.
The fraud was discovered during an internal audit which was instituted by Galwox Investment (Pvt) Limited, which had tasked the couple to manage Valley Lodges.
They were not asked to plead when they appeared before magistrate Dennis Mangosi.
The State said the couple had been declaring that Valley Lodges was making losses since they fraudulently took over the company.
This compelled Galwex Investments to institute an internal audit looking into the performance of Valley Lodges and other subsidiary companies.
The audit unearthed the fraudulent takeover by the Makonis.