A sister in charge at St Luke’s Mission Hospital and a driver working for the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare have appeared in court accused of creating and using a fake discount letter to import a car into the country duty-free.
Dzingai Sibanda (46) and Samuel Gerald Duma (36) appeared before Harare Regional Magistrate Mr Stanford Mambangi on charges of fraud. They were granted bail of $50 each and will be back in court on February 6.
The state alleges that in March last year, Sibanda purchased a Nissan Advan from Qadeer N Brothers Trading CC in South Africa.
In the same month, she applied for a discount to import her car duty-free under the Civil Servants Car Discount Program through the Ministry of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion.
But not wanting to wait for approval, she asked Duma to create a fake discount letter for importing the car, and paid him US$50.
The court heard that Duma bypassed the official channel to apply for a rebate through Zimra and illegally created a fake rebate letter in Sibanda’s name dated 13 March 2023 with reference number 09/28/3/833/23 and forwarded it to Sibanda.
Sibanda sent the fake letter to Dennis Kizzi to facilitate the vehicle being cleared at the Beitbridge border post.
Keizi contacted Getrude Chibaba, an agent based in Beitbridge, and sent her the car’s import documents as well as the fake rebate letter to clear the car at the border.
Chibaba presented the fake rebate letter and other vehicle import documents to Zimra officials at the Beitbridge border post to clear the vehicle.
But Zimra officers proved that the discount letter was fake and confiscated the car. Announce
