NATIONAL Social Security Authority (NSSA) acting general manager Hashmon Matemera appeared at the Harare Magistrates’ Court yesterday charged with externalising about $340 million during his tenure as BancABC managing director.
BY NQOBILE NKIWANE
Matemera (52) was not asked to plead when he appeared before provincial magistrate Vakai Douglas Chikwekwe, who granted him
$10 000 bail and remanded the matter to June 15.
As part of his bail conditions, Matemera was ordered to surrender his passport, reside at his given address, report to the police once a week and provide acceptable surety worth $250 000 to the clerk of court.
Allegations against Matemera are that he facilitated the externalisation of $332 980 000 belonging to diamond miner Jinan to Botswana, Zambia, Sierra Leone, Mozambique, Dubai and China when he was still head of BancABC three years ago.
The State alleges sometime in November 2011, Jinan Mining (Pvt) Ltd was formed through a joint venture agreement between Marange Resources and a Chinese firm, Anhui Foreign Economic Construction Company (AFECC).
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Jinan’s core business, the State alleges, was extraction of diamonds in Chiadzwa while Marange Resources’ contribution was to make available diamond mineral claims to the joint venture and AFECC’s task was to fund the mining operations.
The State alleges on January 9, 2012, Jinan opened a BancABC transitory account at the Mt Pleasant branch and the same account received $628 792 555,02 from AFECC as investment funds in Zimbabwe up to December 2013.
According to State papers, Matemera had facilitated the opening of the transitory account unprocedurally without demanding supporting documentation.
The State further alleges that sometime between April 11, 2013 and April 1, 2014, Matemera connived with Bai Xiangqian, Qingde Jiang and Bei Bei Ma, who are still at large, and transferred the money from the Mt Pleasant BancABC branch into a BancABC Botswana account.
The money was purported to be for investment in Botswana.
However, extra-territorial investigations by police established that the transferred money was never used in Botswana, but was spirited out to Zambia, Sierra Leone, Mozambique, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Dubai and China.
In China, $290 519 600 was allegedly transferred into five different banks while in Mozambique a total of $2 500 000 was also allegedly deposited into two different accounts.
The same strategy was also allegedly used in the DRC where $11 259 714, 30 was deposited into different banks while $4 310 000 was also deposited in Zambia, $676 800 in Sierra Leone, $1 336 194,20 in Dubai and $8 227 272 was transferred into the Mt Pleasant transitory account which has since been closed.
The State also alleges a further $2,5 million was transferred into Jinan Mining’s BancABC account in Mutare with $1 million transferred into SOGECOA Zimbabwe (Pvt) Ltd’s BancABC account in Mt Pleasant.
The State also said, further investigations established that Jinan Mining (Pvt) Ltd was not registered in Botswana, neither did it have any operations in that country.
The Botswana bank account was allegedly opened using Zimbabwean company documents and transfers were administered from the BancABC Mt Pleasant branch by way of an e-banking facility.
Sebastian Mutizirwa is appearing for the State.
