A bishop from the Jesus Christ Latter Day Saints church allegedly lost US$32 600 to a diesel plant fitter in a botched earth moving machine deal, the Harare magistrates court heard.
The accused Waziri Ramajan appeared before magistrate Ruth Moyo last week facing theft charges.
Prosecutor Belinda Chumuka said on unknown dates dating back to 2008, the bishop Maclean Masimba Nyandoro gave Ramajan a Case Front End loader machine to repair.
Chimuka said Nyandoro, acting on Ramajan’s instruction bought one drum of hydraulic oil for US$1 000, a drum of engine oil worth US$1000 and two heavy duty batteries for US$600.
He was also allegedly instructed to buy four brand new tyres worth US$6000 and Ramajan allegedly charged Nyandoro US$4 000 for labour.
Chimuka said instead of fixing the front end loader, Ramajan sold it and failed to handover the accessories bought on his instruction.
Nyandoro suffered a prejudice of US$32 600 due to Ramajan's actions.