Zim Now Writer
A Zimbabwe National Roads Administration employee, Patricia Chikowore, 47, has been sentenced to five years in prison for stealing US$168 458 from the parastatal on 258 separate occasions.
Chikowore was convicted after a full trial before the Harare Magistrates’ Courts, where she was facing 258 counts of criminal abuse of office as a public officer.
However, she will serve an effective three years after two years were conditionally suspended.
The State successfully proved that Chikowore, who was employed as a licensing officer at Zinara’s Harare Exhibition Park Branch, would corruptly interfere with the vehicle licensing system, by distorting expiry dates and arrears.
Chikowore, on 258 occasions, unlawfully used her position and access to an error correction facility on the licensing system and altered expired licensing dates for certain vehicles.
She was fraudulently overriding arrears and penalties, thereby misleading other Zinara licensing officers to act on the incorrect information on the system to license the said vehicles.
As a result, Zinara was prejudiced of US$168 458.
The offence was unearthed in November 2018, when Zinara discovered that certain vehicles had their arrears and penalties cleared without supporting documents.
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