Bank manager grilled in Gono fraud case

The trial of a Harare couple accused of fraudulently changing the directorship of Valley Lodges linked to former Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) Governor, Gideon Gono, continued on Friday with a bank manager testifying in the case.

Tonderai Karumbidza, a bank manager at ZB Bank’s Mutare branch, was grilled by defence lawyer Admire Rubaya when he took the witness stand.

The defence challenged the validity of the State’s evidence, arguing that the prosecution had failed to produce original documents or properly commissioned documents.

Most documents submitted were commissioned by Karumbidza.

The court also heard that no CCTV footage had been produced to confirm that the accused persons Clark Clever Makoni and his wife Beverly Aisha Makoni were present at the bank when the alleged crime was committed.

When questioned about this, Karumbidza conceded that he could not prove that the Makonis were physically present at the bank on the said dates.

Magistrate Stanford Mambanje emphasised the need for proper forensic verification of the signatures before the court could consider the documents as credible evidence.

Prosecutor Heather Muwokoto acknowledged the concerns raised by the defence but maintained that bank records indicated procedural compliance in the change of signatories.

The matter was remanded to February 28.

According to the State, in July 2017, Gono allegedly engaged the services of the accused persons to manage Valley Lodge, among other properties.

On August 10, 2017, the couple allegedly forged a CR14 form in which Clark appointed himself director and company secretary and Beverly as his deputy.

Armed with the forged CR14 form, the two are said to have approached ZB Bank Mutare, Valley Lodge’s bank.

They misrepresented to the bank that they were the new shareholders and wanted to change signatories to bank accounts.

The State said the couple then fraudulently took over the complainant’s company and gained access to its bank accounts and stole money.