A CASE in which a Harare couple is facing a charge of defrauding former Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor Gideon Gono took a new twist yesterday after a witness said he had no evidence of the alleged fraudulent activity.
Lawyers representing Clark Clever Makoni and Beverly Aisha Ndonda Makoni over the ZWL$137 million fraud case said the witness, George Mashonganyika, also did not produce any resolution to prove that he is a representative of Valley Lodge Company.
The matter appeared before Harare regional magistrate Stanford Mambanje.
Defence lawyer Admire Rubaya questioned Mashonganyika if he was present when the Makonis tendered any signed CR14 form to ZB Bank alleged to have been used by the couple to dupe Galwex Investments, Gono’s company.
Mashonganyika submitted that he was not present.
Rubaya argued that Mashonganyika was not employed by the ZB Bank Mutare branch and was, therefore, not a credible witness as he allegedly did not witness the couple presenting any fraudulent documents to the bank.
Rubaya alleged that Mashonganyika had no direct evidence to show that the couple changed signatories to the bank since he was not present when the documents were allegedly submitted to ZB Bank Mutare branch.
The lawyer also said there was no CCTV footage showing the couple submitting the alleged documents.
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Mashonganyika, however, testified that the couple approached the complainant intending to make an out of court settlement of US$50 000, which Clark eventually signed.
Rubaya indicated that there was nowhere in the settlement document which showed that the accused persons admitted to have committed fraud.
Mashonganyika testified that at the settlement meeting, the minutes were recorded by one Dr Dube, an unnamed person who chaired the meeting as well as Gono.
State prosecutor Heather Muwokoto made an application to tender a document which showed that the couple allegedly forged the document.
However, the defence argued that the State could not submit the document since the trial had already started.
Mambanje ruled in favour of the defence rejecting the tendering of new documents.
The matter was deferred to tomorrow.
Allegations are 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.
The Makonis allegedly later changed the company’s directorship.
