A GERMAN national’s bid to defraud his mentally-retarded stepson of his late mother’s estate worth over $1 million backfired after the alleged scam was exposed.
Phillip Chidavaenzi
Hugo Nagel (70), who has South African residency status, appeared before Harare magistrate Bianca Makwande on Wednesday facing a fraud charge.
Although he was granted $1 000 bail, the State represented by Thomas Mabwe, immediately invoked section 121 of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act to keep him behind bars for the next seven days.
Nagel is alleged to have devised a plot to prejudice Buck Gordon Holan of his late mother’s estate.
Mabwe told the court that sometime in March this year, Nagel’s wife – who was the mother of Holan – died and left behind an estate comprising of a house, three shops, cars and jewellery.
The court heard that Nagel then approached the High Court and obtained a waiver of security which gave him the power of attorney to deal with the estate at his discretion and induced Holan to sign the waiver.
Nagel allegedly sought to avoid pledging an equivalent amount of property to the High Court as surety that he was going to be honest in the execution of the deceased’s estate. On March 13, he allegedly misrepresented to the same court that he was a permanent resident of Zimbabwe and was entrusted to be the executor of his late wife’s estate.
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According to the State, the reason why Hugo made such misrepresentations was so that he could defraud Holan of his late mother’s estate valued at $1 180 000.
The trial will commence on Monday.
