Woman loses US$12k in botched ‘money cleaning’ deal

A HARARE woman and her son who claimed to have been involved in a business of “cleaning” dirty US dollars appeared in court yesterday for defrauding a woman US$12 800.

Annah Nyaude (63) and Wesley Nyaude (37) appeared before Harare magistrate Mr Dennis Mangosi charged with fraud and were remanded in custody pending bail application on Monday.

The complainant is a businesswoman who resides in Old Mabvuku, Harare.

Prosecuting, Mr Thomas Chanakira alleged that sometime in August last year, the complainant was approached by the two accused persons who said they wanted US$4 000 to purchase chemicals for the purpose of cleaning their dirty money.

The pair misrepresented to complainant that they had many boxes of dirty money which they wanted to clean on behalf of many people, including high-ranking Government officials.

They made her to believe that if she gave them the money, they were going to repay her threefold and showed her some paper notes which were fully stained and obscured by black dye.

They said the money amounted to about US$2 million and wanted to buy the cleaning chemicals from South Africa.

Since the complainant was not sure whether the two would come back to Zimbabwe and she suggested that she accompany them to purchase the required chemicals.

The complainant and the two accused persons proceeded to South Africa and on arrival, the two alleged fraudsters connected with two other male adults identified as Tau and Steve.

Tau and Steve allegedly demonstrated how the money would be cleaned using three US$100 bills.

The elder Nyaude told the complainant that the two men were going to Botswana first and then proceed to Zimbabwe where the cleaning process was to be done.

The complainant then paid Annah US$1 600 and US$4 500 for air tickets and purchase of the chemicals.

It is said on September 2, the complainant, Annah and Wesley travelled to South Africa and they contacted some other two guys whom they introduced to complainant as Abraham and Mohammed.

Whilst in South Africa, Annah told the complainant that she was to pay R20 000 to facilitate the two men’s air travel to Zimbabwe to clean the money or else she was going to lose the money she had already paid.

She then gave Annah the R20 000 on the pretext that she was to get back the money after the cleaning process.

Afterwards complainant and the two accused persons took different flights to Zimbabwe and on arrival she saw some text messages from Annah saying Abraham and Mahommed were at Beitbridge border post and having issues with customs as their equipment attracted US$5 000 customs duty and they were short of US$2 700.

The complainant and her brother drove to Beitbridge but surprisingly could not locate the two men.

They were made to wait for 11 hours after which Abraham and Mohammed pitched up and were given the US$2 700.

The complainant was told that the equipment had been cleared and they were told to travel with Abraham in her car whilst Mohammed and the complainant’s brother would use the other car bringing the cleaning equipment to Harare.

When they got to Harare, Annah further demanded US$330 as accommodation for her partners at Cresta Lodge where the money would be cleaned.

The following day, the complainant tried to call Annah and failed to get hold of her.

She went to Cresta Lodge to look for them was told that they had checked out of the hotel.

The complainant later learnt that they Abraham and Mohammed had left Zimbabwe and Annah was further asking for US$1 700 to ensure the final cleaning.

She concluded that this was a scam and reported the matter to police leading to the arrest of the Nyaudes.