BY DESMOND CHINGARANDE
ZANU PF legislator for Hurungwe Cecil Kashiri has been arrested and appeared in court on Saturday on allegations of importing his luxury vehicle using forged documents to evade paying import duty.
Kashiri (49) who appeared before magistrate Barbara Mateko was remanded to April 23 on $3 000 bail.
The complainant is the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) and allegations are that during the period extending from September 2019 and December 31 last year, Kashiri allegedly hatched a plan to defraud Zimra by importing his Ford Ranger vehicle from South Africa without paying for customs duty.
It is alleged that on September 4, Kashiri in connivance with a customs officer who is yet to be arrested, used a bill of entry for goods imported by Marowa Diamonds dated February 2019, purporting to be for the Ford Ranger imported from South Africa by Kashiri.
The forged documents were used to process a customs clearance certificate for the vehicle bearing equipment number 9001179269.
The State alleges that Kashiri and the customs officer misrepresented that he had paid duty for the vehicle.
The bill of entry used was for goods imported in February 2019 by Marowa Diamonds and had nothing to do with the importation in September 2019 of the Ford Ranger vehicle.
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It is further alleged that on September 11 last year, Kashiri went to Zimra and connived with the Zimra official who then wrote and signed a letter on behalf of the manager indicating that Kashiri lost his original customs clearance certificate. The letter confirmed that the motor vehicle had been cleared for registration.
On September 13, Kashiri and the Zimra official registered the vehicle into the Zimra system.
The vehicle was then registered with Central Vehicle Registry using fraudulent documents.
The State alleges that Kashiri’s actions caused financial prejudice amounting to US$3 646 in terms of unpaid customs duty and nothing was recovered.
