Fraud Accused Prophet Magaya in US$500k Bribery Storm
Harare | Walter Magaya, the founder of Prophetic Deliverance Healing (PHD), is facing intense criticism after it was revealed that, after receiving a USD $3 million Israeli investment deal, he attempted in vain to give a kickback (inducement) to Ambassador Roni Levi Musan, the Consul General of Zimbabwe in Israel, in order to facilitate more investment deals.
Attorney Akiva Rosner disclosed this information on behalf of the Israeli investors who claim that Magaya deceived them, citing a breach of contract that requires the investors to sue.
According to Rosner, Musan introduced them to Zimbabwe and the prospect of investing there.
“We were exposed to investing in Zimbabwe through the excellent work of Ambassador Ronny Levi Musan, the Consul General of Zimbabwe in Israel, who represents Zimbabwe and His Excellency the President of Zimbabwe, with prestige, responsibility and determination vis-à-vis the Israeli government and investors in Israel.
“Without the ambassador, we would not have arrived in Zimbabwe until today.
“Israel has a robust economy with many private and institutional investors looking for investment opportunities. For us, investing in Zimbabwe is far beyond the business issue.
The humanitarian and social issue in Zimbabwe offers a wonderful opportunity, because we believe there is a blessing when doing business in a manner that supports and strengthens underprivileged communitie,”he said.
He said Magaya entered the picture following his many years of acquaintance with the ambassador.
“He introduced us to his church, his hotel and his plan to develop a gold mine with the community participation program.
In his case it can be said with certainty that he used his connections with the ambassador to receive money from the Israeli investors who trust the ambassador and Magaya knew it.
“Without the ambassador, Magaya would not have received one dollar from us.
“I must point out that Magaya offered the ambassador half a million dollars from the funds he received from the Israelis
“The ambassador rejected the offer and approached us because his only goal was that all money be invested in the project in Zimbabwe in the hope that it will be succesfull and set an example for major investments,” he said.
Adding:
“The shareholding size agreed was that the Israeli investors were going to hold in the Joint Venture (JV)?
“According to the agreement signed with Magaya, it was agreed that Magaya would hold 57% of shares and the Israelis 43% of shares, with a personal guarantee of Magaya on the principal investment and that that all the funds would be used to develop the gold mine under the government sanctioned community ownership scheme.
“We now realize that the entire thing was a sham, on the part of Magaya.
”He knew that he could get money from us on terms and leveraging his church and relationship, and had no real intention to enter into a real business relationship as declared. He knew that his whole performance was on false pretenses, just to help him get funds that would enable him to fund his church, his projects and his own interests.”
He said they entered the agreement basing on the fact that he was head of a church.
“We hesitated from the beginning because after all USD3 million is a huge amount, but the fact that he is the head of a church who preaches the word of God gave us some peace because according to our standards in Israel, a person who fears God is a decent person.
But it turns out that there are people who use God’s house and name for money greed and fraud and they still dare to call themselves God’s people,” he said
According to the agreement signed with Magaya, the transfer of the money to him was conditional on his personal guarantee for the money and the mortgage of his hotel in Waterfalls as a guarantee for the money.
According to Rosner,after transferring funds to Magaya ,he confirmed receipt but did not fulfill any of the commitments he made to them.
“He became evasive and did not comply with the terms of the agreement for the establishment of an orderly legal framework, for the transfer of the mine’s proprietary rights, nor did he comply with the restrictions imposed on him on the use of the funds exclusively for the development of the mine and the production of gold as he had promised.
“As soon as he got what he wanted, his lawyers stopped communicating with us and he stopped even making a show as if he intended to keep the agreement. Finally we had no choice but to take the legal route,”said Rosner.
A disappointed Ambassador Musan said he was still committed to bring more investors to Zimbabwe.
“I am obliged to His Excellency President Emmerson Mnangagwa who works day and night to develop the future of Zimbabwe and to leave a glorious legacy of national pride for future generations and I will do everything to bring results and investments from Israel to realize the President’s vision.
“Anyone from the business people in Zimbabwe who will work with integrity and loyalty with us and with any other international investors will not only profit but will also bring great pride to his family in particular and to Zimbabwe in general,” he said in apparent reference to Magaya’s alleged failure of a morality test.
Magaya once went to Israel with a small satchel claiming that he was going to cleanse the problems of his congregants.
Incessant efforts to get comment from Magaya’s spokesperson Admire Mango proved fruitless at the time of writing .
His mobile phone went unanswered and he did not respond to questions sent him when granted the right to respond.
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