A COURT case has lifted the lid on the smuggling of high-end vehicles into the country by some officers from various State agencies such as the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO).
Three of the suspected car smugglers were denied bail when they appeared before Harare magistrate Donald Ndirowei yesterday.
Brian Matongo (41), Tinashe Kanda (41) and Elvis Jieman 28 were remanded to March 10 for possible trial commencement after the State indicated that a statement from the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) was yet to materialise.
State prosecutor Anesu Chirenje alleged that sometime in 2018, the accused persons joined a cartel of smugglers of top-of-the-range vehicles from South Africa into Zimbabwe.
They connived with some personnel from Zimra, Zimbabwe National Roads Administration (Zinara), Central Vehicle Registration (CVR) as well as the CIO to fraudulently register different vehicles into the system of the aforementioned institutions.
On December 12, 2017, the accused persons connived with Wisdom Ndebele to smuggle a Toyota Fortuner from South Africa into Zimbabwe.
In a bid to benefit from Zimra, Zinara and CVR exemptions of tax, licences and toll fees, Kanda used his connections to obtain a vehicle registration book and a number plate belonging to the Office of the President and Cabinet.
Jieman used the number plate for the smuggled Toyota vehicle.
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Due to this misrepresention, he evaded paying tax, vehicle licence fees as well as toll fees.
The offence came to light when the Office of the President and Cabinet witnessed an upsurge in missing exempted registration plates circulating on the market.
The matter was reported to the police for further investigations, which led to the recovery of the vehicle and the registration plates.
