Allegations were made against CABS when it appeared in court that it had disregarded a court order to give Universal Transport Services, the complainant in a criminal prosecution, access to US$45,000 in foreign money that was being held as an exhibit.
As part of the legal process, the money were first frozen at the beginning of the trial. But CABS insisted that it could only supply the comparable amount in local currency using the 2019 conversion rate of US$1 to Z$1, declining to release the amount in foreign money.
Notably, in April 2018, before the 2019 exchange rate was implemented, the funds were taken out of the account over a period of nine days.
During its Tuesday appearance before Harare magistrate Mr. Simon Kandiyero, CABS—represented by its legal and governance manager, Ms. Tafadzwa Mutsa Makoni—was not formally charged with contempt of court. The matter was put on hold until June 12.
The charges, according to prosecutor Mr. Takudzwa Jambawu, originated on June 13, 2017, when Malvern Chimutashu conned Universal Transport Services (Pvt) Ltd of US$234,000. The company was defended by Mr. Blessmore Chanakira.
The proceeds of the crime, which were being stored at Fidelity Printers and Refiners and CABS, were then frozen by the police using two search and seizure warrants. The warrants were served to both entities on June 14, 2017, and CABS cooperated by freezing Andrew Jubane’s account number 1003662641.
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Following Chimutashu’s conviction on November 3, 2023, the court mandated that Universal Transport Services get the $45,000 that had been kept in Jubane’s CABS account right away.
Diza Attorneys, on behalf of Universal Transport Services, informed CABS of the court ruling and supplied the required bank information for the transfer on January 18 of this year.
But in February, CABS replied that it was not possible to send any money because the account in question had no balance and was dormant at the time.
Police officers obtained a bank statement for Jubane’s account from June 14, 2017, to the present, and served it to CABS this month. Police were able to receive the statement on Sunday, which disclosed that the bank permitted transactions through debits and withdrawals between April 3 and April 12, 2018.
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