A Tanzanian businesswoman who was arrested on Monday charged with fraud after she was found selling sub-standard rice packaged in fake labels of established imported brands was granted $500 bail yesterday.
Mlengela Anastazi who owns Bolstren Investments appeared before Harare magistrate Anita Tshuma and was not asked to plead to the charges.
She will be back in court on July 17.
Prosecutor David Magwegwe told the court that Anastazi fraudulently packaged Oriental and Zam Zam rice into 25kg Aroz Mariana bags and allegedly misrepresented to Chiku Danny that the rice was original.
On the same date, Danny reported the matter to the police who later raided Anastazi’s employees.
It is alleged the police caught the employees red-handed, repackaging the sub-standard rice and recovered 995 brand new 25kg empty bags of the established imported brand in the warehouse.
Magwegwe told the court that 56 bags of packed and sealed rice were also recovered from Anastazi’s truck. As part of her bail conditions, the accused was advised to surrender her passport and report once a week at the Police Licence Inspectorate Unit in Harare.
