A fuel trader appeared in court yesterday accused of defrauding a fuel company of $56,200 he had paid in advance to deliver 80,000 liters of fuel.
Charles Wade (39), who was represented by Mr Stephen Chikotura, was remanded out of prison until February 23 on free bail by Harare magistrate Ms Apollonia Marutia.
The complainant in this case is Faith Fuels (Pvt) Limited represented by Ryan Dzabata.
The state led by Mr. Thomas Chanakira alleged that on May 19, 2022, Wade contacted Brian Dzapata of Faith Fuels (Pvt) Ltd and convinced him that he could source fuel on his behalf. Wade allegedly misrepresented that he had the ability to source fuel from Strauss Logistics (Pvt) Limited of Willowvale, Harare, a company that traded in bulk fuel.
Mr Dzapata was interested and ordered 80,000 liters of diesel, giving Wide US$56,200 as a deposit with the balance to be paid on delivery of the diesel.
The state alleged that Wade took the money but did not deliver the fuel. Mr Dzabata tried to contact Whide several times but he continued to make false promises and at one point, misrepresented that he had bought fuel from Mozambique but was intercepted by the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra).
Dzabata waited for more than a year, but Wade changed his mobile phone number and became evasive.
Realizing that Wade was a fake supplier, Mr Dzabata filed a report with the police which then led to Wade’s arrest. As a result of Wade’s actions, the fuel company was damaged in the amount of $56,200 and nothing was recovered. Announce
