A 49-year-old man from Mhondoro was yesterday dragged to court after he allegedly scammed a Chinese investor of US$16 000 in a botched mining deal.
Wonder Mavengano from Ngezi Village Turf Mhondoro appeared before Harare magistrate Apollonia Marutya charged with Theft of Trust property.
He was remanded in custody to today for his bail application.
Complainant is a duly registered Mining company being represented by Gline Jones and is employed as the Operations Manager by Earthgate Mining and Simboti Mining Private Limited
The state prosecutor Rufaro Chonzi alleged that sometime in 2023 the Mavengano approached the company representative at number 139 the Chase road Groom bridge Mount Pleasant Harare and identified himself as a businessman.
He stated that he is the head of a mining syndicate called Takaedza Mining which operates in Mhondoro-Ngezi.
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He allegedly told the complainant that his mining activities has not started because there are failing to raise the money for ZINWA, Zimparks, Ministry of Mines and EMA certificates.
He convinced the complainant by producing some documents which stated that mining activities can only commence after certificates are obtained from responsible authorities.
The court heard that the complainant then entered into a mining agreement with Mavengano.
The complainant reportedly gave Mavengano US$16 600 to pay for the certificates as agreed so that they could commence mining.
The charges further alleges that the complainant then started mining activities at the Mhondoro site, during this period the complainant was approached by EMA, Zimparks, Ministry of Mines and ZINWA government officials and asked why there were mining without complying with the laws of the country which require the above documents.
The complainant told the officials that they duly paid US$$16 600 for the certificates through Mavengano.
However the complainant was told by the officials that Mavengano did not pay that money he converted it into his own use.
The complainant then approached Mavengano who started to be evasive, since he was failing to account for the funds he was given.