HARARE magistrate Tendai Mahwe yesterday acquitted two Chinese nationals Mozhu Zhang (27) and Tang Cuijuan (53) who were facing charges of externalising over $190 000 to their country.
BY PAIDAMOYO MUZULU
Mahwe made the ruling after the duo’s lawyer Advent Tavenhave had applied for an exception to the charges arguing that the charge sheet did not disclose an offence.
The magistrate upheld the application for exception saying the State had failed to disclose a case.
“Accordingly the State facts do not disclose a criminal offence and therefore accused is found not guilty and acquitted,” Mahwe said. The magistrate said: “It was not the intention of the legislature to bar people from remitting their personal money to their home countries.”
It was the State’s case that the duo in period extending from September 2013 to December 2014 instructed their bank, Barclays Bank, to transfer money from their personal accounts to China without authorisation from the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe.
The transfers were in batches ranging from $3 000 to $10 000 which were to be paid to a beneficiary in China.
The accused through their counsel Tavenhave argued that the law in fact barred companies not individuals from remitting money to foreign countries without authorisation from the central bank. In their case, the defence argued, the money was not company funds but personal money which is exempt from the requirement.
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The State in its papers failed to establish whether the transferred money was from the company Tianxing Investment which the accused are directors.
The complainant in the matter was Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe director Bank Use Promotion and Suppression of Money Laundering Mirirai Chiremba.
