A MUREWA man, who allegedly defrauded government’s command agriculture programme of 78 bags of fertiliser late last month, appeared at the Marondera Magistrates’ Court on Friday facing fraud and forgery charges.
BY JAIROS SAUNYAMA
Abraham Kuhlengisa, of Plot 11, Vanguard Farm, pleaded guilty to the charges of fraudulently acquiring 78 instead of 18 bags of fertiliser after forging collection receipts.
Magistrate Ignatius Mugova remanded him in custody to December 19 for sentencing.
According to court papers, on November 27, Kuhlengisa was allocated 18 by 50kg bags of Compound D fertiliser under the command agriculture scheme by his local agricultural extension officer, Chimano Mutandwa.
Kuhlengisa then went to the Grain Marketing Board depot in Macheke to collect his allocation and fraudulently altered his input voucher to indicate he was entitled to 78 bags of fertiliser.
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Due to the misrepresentation, Kuhlengisa collected the 78 bags before Mutandwa discovered the offence during an audit, leading to the farmer’s arrest.
Police investigations led to the recovery of 28 bags from Kuhlengisa, with 12 others recovered from Macheke farmers he had sold some of the fertiliser to.
Prosecutor Courage Chakawa told the court that the State was prejudiced of $2 100.