Former magistrate in court for fraud

FORMER magistrate Shaun Kubonera has appeared in court on allegations of defrauding people of large sums of money after misrepresenting that had connections in the President’s Office.

Kubonera and Allen Bhaswi were facing fraud charges when they appeared before Harare magistrate Mrs Fadzai Mthombeni on Monday.

The pair were remanded in custody for bail application today. The complainant is Mr Shingirai Nyengere, a legal practitioner at John Mugogo Attorneys.

State prosecutor, Mr Kevin Munyimi alleged that sometime in June, Bhaswi misrepresented to Mr Nyengere that he could grant him a loan of US$60 000.

The court heard that Bhaswi told Nyengere to pay US$248 as a loan application fee.

Bhaswi introduced Kubonera as his brother and allegedly lied to Mr Nyengere that he had made arrangements with the President that he (Nyengere) would be his property manager.

Bhaswi allegedly went on to tell Mr Nyengere that the President required a commitment fee for him to be appointed as property manager.

In October 2023, Mr Nyengere received a call from someone pretending to be the President saying that Bhaswi had told him that he was eager to work as his property manager.

The caller said he was scheduling a meeting with him at State House.

However, the meeting did not materialise as Bhaswi kept on saying the President had a busy schedule.

Later on, Bhaswi allegedly convinced Mr Nyengere to give him US$2 000 after saying that the

President had taken it upon himself to assist him in importing a car and a tractor.

On November 25, 2023, Bhaswi allegedly enticed Mr Nyengere to give him US$221 which he said was to buy an expensive wine for the President.

On the same day, Mr Nyengere received a call from an unknown caller who introduced himself as President Mnangagwa who told him to pay US$3 500 for the importation of the car.

Mr Nyengere paid US$2 300 to Bhaswi.

Mr Nyengere started to doubt the veracity of Bhaswi’s claims and approached Kubonera who vouched for Bhaswi’s integrity and confirmed that indeed Bhaswi worked for the President.

From November 30, 2023, to January 17, 2024, it is alleged that the duo would demand money in different amounts from Mr Nyengere claiming that it was needed to secure his meeting with the President and also for him to receive additional agricultural inputs and vehicles from the President.

The alleged total amount that Mr Nyengere gave to the accused during this period was US$6 978.

According to court documents, on January 30, Mr Nyengere received a call from a lady who claimed to be the First Lady, Dr Auxillia Mnangagwa, instructing him to travel to Beitbridge with Bhaswi.

But he doubted the claim and started to seriously suspect that he was being scammed.

On February 28, Mr Nyengere reported the matter to the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission leading to the arrest of the accused persons.

As a result, Mr Nyengere lost US$11 747 and nothing was recovered.