FORMER Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation television (ZBC-TV) presenter Oscar Pambuka was yesterday slapped with a one year jail term for attempting to defraud Croco Motors of R36 000.
Pambuka was being charged together with Elmore Mwenye and Ngonidzashe Mbauya, who have since been acquitted of the charges by Mbare magistrates Nyasha Vitorini.
Vitorini, however, suspended the whole sentence on condition that Pambuka does not commit a similar offence in three years.
In suspending the sentence, the magistrate considered that Pambuka’s High Court appeal on his previous six-year conviction was dismissed.
The court heard that Pambuka misrepresented to Gibson Mazhangara, who runs Gimatar Logistics, that he was Croco Motors marketing manager, and wanted some money to pay for shipment of his motor vehicle parts in South Africa.
The State, represented by prosecutor Vimbai Makamure told the court that on November 15, 2022, Pambuka, who was masquerading as Croco Motors’ marketing manager and representing Moses Chingwena, called Mazhangara using a South African number and claimed that Chingwena was in a meeting.
Pambuka demanded R36 000 as an advance payment for shipping vehicle parts from South Africa.
The court heard that Pambuka then asked Mazhangara to deposit the money into J Velem Enterprises trading as Ulphostery Trading’s FNB Bank account in South Africa.
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He also told Mazhangira that he would receive the equivalent of R36 000 in United States dollars in the country.
Mazhangira became suspicious and went to confirm with Croco Motors, who indicated that they had no containers of spare parts in South Africa waiting for shipment.
He then reported the matter to the police, leading to the arrest of Pambuka and his accomplices.
