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Trio acquitted in RBZ $80 000 theft case

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THREE RBZ vault keepers in Bulawayo who were being accused of stealing $80 000 meant for the Zvishavane branch of Fidelity Printers were acquitted and discharged for lack of evidence.

THREE Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe vault keepers in Bulawayo who were being accused of stealing $80 000 meant for the Zvishavane branch of Fidelity Printers yesterday heaved a sigh of relief after they were acquitted and discharged for lack of evidence.

Report by Richard Muponde

Sonnyboy Moyo (36), Rodwell Tafadzwa Tamba (28) and Tazen Munhumumwe (24) had pleaded not guilty to theft when they appeared before Bulawayo magistrate Gladys Mushowe.

Initially, they three were jointly charged with security officers John Mahlekete (49) Tawanda Masara (47), Bornwell Sibanda (47) Sherturo Katoma (27) Methuseli Sibanda (34) and Anele Ntuluki (37) The prosecutor Jerry Mutsindikwa on June 22, 2011, made an application for withdrawal of the charges before plea after the State discovered that there was not enough evidence to convict them RBZ authorities advised the State that they would bring more evidence to prove that the nine committed the offence.

In the following court appearance, the security officers were removed from the list of the accused and only the three — Moyo, Tamba and Munhumumwe were charged.

Charges against them were that on July 23 last year, the RBZ in Bulawayo received requests for cash from Fidelity Printers branches in Gwanda, Filabusi and Zvishavane to buy gold as their cash was no longer enough.

Gwanda was allocated $100 000, Filabusi $40 000 and Zvishavane $80 000 respectively.

Moyo, Tamba and Munhumumwe allegedly packed the money into three different cash boxes which they sealed and locked with padlocks before they handed it over to the security department for safekeeping.

Three days later, Mahlekete, Masara, Sibanda, Katoma, Ntuluki and Methuseli took the cash boxes for delivery to the respective centres.

They delivered the cash to Gwanda and Filabusi, but their escort vehicle developed a mechanical fault in Filabusi. They returned to Bulawayo with the Zvishavane cash.

When they returned, they handed the money back to the other three — Tamba, Munhumumwe and Moyo for safekeeping. The three then allegedly connived to steal the $80 000 and broke the padlock which they later replaced with another, which they had allegedly bought.

The matter came to light when the cash box was delivered to Zvishavane on July 28 after officials failed to open the box as the keys held at the branch could not open the padlock.

They had to break it and discovered that it only contained $566 which had been requested as petty cash by the branch.

The matter was reported to the police, leading to the trio’s arrest, but nothing was recovered.