HARARE regional magistrate Stanford Mambanje yesterday upheld the State’s application for tendering of a deed of settlement that was made between former Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor Gideon Gono’s company and Clark Clever and Beverly Aisha Ndonda Makoni, who are being accused of fraudulently transferring a property that was under their management to their names.
The couple’s defence counsel Admire Rubaya had vehemently opposed the State’s application to tender the deed of transfer.
However, Mambanje ruled that the document was relevant to the matter, hence the trial will continue on October 14 this year.
The couple allegedly prejudiced Galwex Investments of ZWL$137 736 500.
At the beginning of the trial last month, prosecutor Heather Muwokoto led evidence from the first witness, George Mashonganyika special projects executive at Gono’s Galwex Investments.
Mashonganyika said the couple was appointed to manage Valley Lodge, a property owned by Galwex, but corruptly changed the directorship and made unauthorised withdrawals from the company’s bank account in 2017.
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The court heard that on October 30, 2009, Costick Investments (Pvt) Ltd sold all its shares in Lizack and Valley Lodge to Galwex Investments (Pvt) Ltd and sometime in 2017, Mashonganyika assigned Ark Properties, a company owned by Makoni and his wife to manage Valley Lodge (Pvt) Ltd as estate agents.
In August 2017, Makoni allegedly hatched a plan to defraud the complainant by changing the directorship of Valley Lodge (Pvt) Ltd.
Mashonganyika also told the court that during a spot check in October 2023, it was discovered that the couple had fraudulently changed the directorship of Valley Lodge without Galwex’s knowledge and made themselves signatories.
The court also heard that the couple was only entitled to commission but ended up receiving salaries from Valley Lodge.
It was also revealed that Clark allegedly produced a fake CR14 form claiming ownership and directorship of Valley Lodge, but an investigation revealed that the legitimate directors were Ayoob Omar and Mohamed Hussein Omar.
Mashonganyika said it was not possible at the time for the directorship to be transferred to the accused because there were clauses on the agreement sale of the property which had not been fulfilled by Galwex.
It was also alleged that Clark made several unauthorised withdrawals from Valley Lodge’s bank account, resulting in a prejudice of ZWL$137 736 500 from January 2022 to September 2023.
Mashonanyika also testified that the duo at some point tried to negotiate with Galwex to restore directorship to the rightful owners and to compensate them with US$50 000 through a deed of settlement that was signed for.