FOUR Cotton Company (Cottco) bosses in Gokwe have been arrested after they allegedly sold 358 bags of fertiliser for US$2 each to their colleagues at the depot, NewsDay has established.
They have since appeared at the Gokwe Magistrates Court facing a charge of theft of trust property — fertiliser the depot received under the Presidential Inputs Support Scheme.
Chrispen Gwauya (46), Albert Kanimbirira (30), Elvis Chakanetsa Nyamayaro (54) and Thomas Fukai (45) appeared before magistrate Honest Musiiwa who remanded them out of custody to June 27.
As part of their bail conditions, the four were ordered to remain at their given addresses, not to interfere with State witnesses and to report to Gokwe CID offices once every week.
The accused are business unit manager, business accountant, human resources officer and stores person, respectively.
It is the State’s case that sometime last year, the Cottco Gokwe depot was entrusted to distribute fertilisers to cotton farmers around the area.
The fertiliser was under the Presidential Input Support Scheme and was meant to be distributed to cotton farmers for free.
It is alleged that on April 3 last year, Fukai allegedly raised a disposal form requesting that 571 bags of 50 kilogrammes of Compound L fertiliser with a commercial value of US$19 414 be written off as breakages.
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On July 27, 2024, the four allegedly held a meeting as the disposal committee and decided that the fertiliser be disposed of to Cottco employees.
This was reportedly done without the authority of Cottco management at head office in Harare.
Investigations established that the suspects allegedly proceeded to sell 358 bags at US$2 each to Cottco employees who were not meant to benefit from the scheme.
