Teacher in court for abusing Civil Servants Rebate...

Teacher in court for abusing Civil Servants Rebate Scheme

Michael Mashiri

A teacher from Sentosa, Mabelreign was taken to court for defrauding the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority over US$7 000 after trying to evade payment of import duty for her car.

Grace Jonathan Musiiwa, 51, Tawanda Muzhingi, 29, a Be Forward agent from Mandara and Yvone Musoni, a Zimra employee, appeared before magistrate Marehwanazvo Gofa at the Harare Magistrates’ Courts charged with fraud.

The State, through Cecilia Mashingaidze, alleges that sometime in August 2022, Musiiwa asked Muzhingi to assist her find a Toyota Vanguard to buy.

Muzhingi then searched for the car on the Be Forward website and found a black Toyota Vanguard which US$8 800, inclusive of freight.

Musiiwa’s daughter, Amanda Gwanzura, then deposited US$8 800 into the supplier’s bank account and a receipt for US$8800 was forwarded to Muzhingi, together with a bill of lading.

In October 2022, Musiiwa applied for duty exemption under the Civil Servants Rebate Scheme.

Musiiwa, working with Muzhingi, attached a fake invoice with a value of US$4 700 to the application in an effort to undervalue the purchase price of the Toyota Vanguard bought by Musiiwa from Japan.

As a result of the falsification, Zimra suffered an actual prejudice of US$7 920 through unpaid import duty on the incremental value of the car.

Gofa ordered the three to pay US$300 bail each to the Clerk of Court.

They were also instructed to continue residing at their given addresses until the matter is finalised.