The late former army General Solomon Mujuru’s nephew Tendai Mundawarara and her alleged accomplice Trynos Nkomo appeared in court yesterday facing a $430 000 fraud case.
Mundawarara is board chairperson of National Merchant Bank (NMB) while Nkomo is the president of Zimbabwe Miners Federation.
Both Mundawarara (49) and Nkomo (46) were not asked to plead when they appeared before Harare Magistrate Donald Ndirowei who remanded them out of custody to July 2 on $1 000 bail each.
Mundawarara is also charged as a representative of his firm Beaver Mining, which was cited in court papers as the first accused and also appeared on a separate court record where he is charged alone for dealing in gold without a licence.
The complainant in the matter is Kalotti Jewellery International registered in Dubai and represented locally by Earthclean, whose representative was cited in court papers as Muner Kazi.
Prosecutor Elaine Mokora presented that on October 14 last year Mundawarara and his firm allegedly misrepresented to Kalotti Jewellery International that they were licensed to deal in gold and would supply the complainant with gold within three days.
It is alleged an agreement was entered into where Mundawarara and his firm were to supply 8,5kg of gold which was to be exported to Dubai. The State alleges that Mundawarara engaged Nkomo and instructed him to open an account with NMB.
According to the State, the account was opened at Mundawarara’s office situated at number 93 Churchill, Gunhill in Harare.
- Chamisa under fire over US$120K donation
- Mavhunga puts DeMbare into Chibuku quarterfinals
- Pension funds bet on Cabora Bassa oilfields
- Councils defy govt fire tender directive
Keep Reading
After the opening of the said account, Mundawarara is alleged to have instructed Kalotti Jewellery International to deposit $430 000 into the account and that was done on October 24 last year. The State further alleges that without the involvement of the complainant, Mundawarara drafted another agreement between Kalotti Jewellery International and Zimbabwe Miners Federation, which has since been disowned by the Dubai firm.
It is alleged Mundawarara and Nkomo had forged signatures of officials at Kalotti Jewellery International.
As a result of the duo’s alleged actions, Nkomo withdrew $430 000 on two different occasions thereby prejudicing Kalotti Jewellery International to the sum of $280 000 after 3,5kg of gold valued at $150 000 was recovered.
