Source: The Herald – Breaking news.
Prosper Dembedza, Herald Correspondent
Tobacco Industry Marketing Board (TIMB) chairman Patrick Devenish and chief executive officer Meanwell Gudu were arrested last week on charges of fraud, alternatively criminal abuse of office, after they allegedly extended a US$397 000 loan facility to a family company owned by Mr Itayi Masuka, prejudicing TIMB of US$539 000.
The two appeared at the Harare Magistrates Court on Saturday before Harare magistrate Mrs Sandra Mupindu, who remanded them in custody to today for their bail application.
They spent the weekend in remand prison.
The remand hearing heard that in May 2021, Devenish and Gudu, gave a loan facility of US$397 739,51 to Ultimate Accolade (Private) Limited, owned by the Masuka family, without the knowledge of other TIMB board members and without a board resolution authorising them to do so.
Allegations are that at the time of the signing of the two agreements, Gudu was out of office, but instructed the special projects manager, Mr Lovemore Chikweya, to take the contracts to the acting chief operations officer, Mr Blessing Dhokotera, for him to sign them on his behalf.
When Mr Dhokotera consulted Gudu over the phone, Gudu told Mr Dhokotera that the contracts were for special projects and that they were urgent. He then allegedly directed Mr Dhokotera to immediately sign the contracts on his behalf. Mr Dhokotera then signed the contracts as directed by Gudu.
After the contracts were signed, the special projects department would raise internal memos from time to time seeking the release of funds for the implementation of the project and Mr Dhokotera would be asked to recommend the release for approval by Gudu.
The State alleges that the board members only came to know about the loan facility late last year after it was brought to their attention by the current acting chief officer, Mr Emmanuel Matsvaire, in a full board meeting.
The board then tasked the management to recover the money from Ultimate Accolade. But the loan account of Ultimate Accolade presented to the board indicated that only US$16 000 was recovered this year from the total debt, which is now US$539 650,50 with interest.
The State alleges that in granting the loan without the knowledge of other TIMB board members and without a board resolution authorising them to do so, the two accused acted contrary or inconsistent with their duties as public officers.
Separately, Gudu is facing another charge of corruptly concealing from the TIMB a personal interest in a transaction.
Court documents show that in 2018, TIMB sourced funds to supply small-scale tobacco farmers with inputs. TIMB contracted many transport companies to ferry tobacco inputs from Harare and distribute them across Zimbabwe.
Among the transport companies contracted by TIMB was Mukanya Jeremiah Logistics. After contracting Mukanya Jeremiah Logistics, Gudu then used his wife to orchestrate a deal with the company in which he proposed to place his eight trucks under Mukanya Jeremiah Logistics to ferry the tobacco inputs.
In return, TIMB would pay Mukanya Jeremiah Logistics 10 percent of the total paid for Gudu’s transport services.
Mukanya Jeremiah Logistics, like all other transporters, was contracted for US$1 per kilometre travelled.
It is alleged that Gudu advised Mukanya Jeremiah Logistics to write a letter to him asking for an upward review of the charge to US$1, 90 per kilometre.
On December 15, 2020, the company wrote that letter to TIMB which was approved by the then chief executive officer, Dr Andrew Matibiri. Only Mukanya Jeremiah Logistics received the higher rate,.
The payments made by TIMB for the transport services rendered by Gudu’s trucks were done through Mukanya Jeremiah Logistics’ BancABC account.
The company would then deduct Gudu’s 10 percent commission and remit the proceeds to Gudu’s Nedbank company account held by the name, Bransand Enterprises (Private) Limited. Gudu and his wife were directors.
A reconciliation of the total payments made by TIMB to Mukanya Jeremiah Logistics for transport services, which were then remitted to Gudu for September 2020 to 2022, amounted to Z$804 239,24.
Meanwhile, TIMB company secretary Tariro Chitsunge, who is being charged together with Devenish, was also arrested on criminal abuse of office charges over a cellphone, tablet and laptop tender.
Chitsunge, who was represented by Sevious Kufandada, was remanded in custody to today for his bail application by magistrate Mrs Mupindu.
The State also alleged their accomplice, chief finance officer Willard Zidyambanje, is still at large.
Allegations are that on August 18 last year Chitsunge raised an internal purchase requisition for seven cellphones and seven tablets or laptops.
In line with procedure, TIMB placed a tender advert for the supply and delivery of the gadgets in the Government Gazette on August 25 last year and in The Sunday Mail of August 27 last year, inviting competitive bidding, with a closing date of September 22 last year.
On September 22, an evaluation meeting was conducted and only one bidder, Craig Computers, had participated in the tender.
However, Craig Computers was non-compliant with the bidding requirements, and the evaluation committee then recommended to adopt a section of the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Act allowing direct procurement where no responsive bids have been submitted in response to the competitive bidding procedure.
It is alleged that Chitsunge and Devenish got to know that the procurement management unit was going to engage in direct procurement, and they advised the unit’s head to buy from Solution Centre.
Contrary to what is stipulated in the Act, the procurement head then went on to source quotations from Solution Centre.
However, it was noted by the procurement management unit head that Solution Centre customised gadgets would be available only after two months, since they had to be ordered, customised and supplied.
The procurement management unit did a merit survey and noted that Solution Centre’s prices were high and that most of the other suppliers had the required products, but could not meet the delivery time period of four days stipulated by Zidyambanje, who in terms of Act, did not have the responsibility or duty to engage or involve himself in procurement matters.
On September 25, the head of the procurement management unit told Zidyambanje of the proposed lead times, saying he was acting contrary and inconsistent to his duties, since he was pushing the unit to buy from Solution Centre and had reiterated that the gadgets were supposed to be available on September 29, which was only four days away.
It is alleged that the procurement management unit bought goods worth US$8 310,10 from Solution Centre and worth US$20 644,80 from Celltrade Electronics.
This, allegedly did not go down well with Devenish and Chitsunge since they wanted all the gadgets to be procured from Solution Centre.
On October 20, Chitsunge wrote an email to procurement management unit head Ms Moud Tsikayi indicating that Devenish had enquired with Solution Centre and found out that it had all the gadgets which TIMB had been intending to procure and went further to ask why the procurement management unit had only bought some of the gadgets rather than to procure all of them from Solution Centre.
Chitsunge ordered Ms Tsikayi to immediately write a report justifying her actions and threatened she would lose her job for not following their orders.
The State alleges that the conduct of Chitsunge and Devenish favoured Solution Centre, which was more expensive, thereby prejudicing TIMB.
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