Youthful entrepreneur Shingai Levison Muringi was yesterday granted his warrant of liberation after the state and the investigating officer failed to prove fraud and money laundering charges against him.
Muringi appeared before Harare Magistrate Mrs Munashe Chibanda yesterday for his bail hearing on allegations of fraud and money laundering involving USD85,000.00 centred at the dispute of a fuel transaction.
The accused was being represented by experienced lawyer Claude Bare, who gave the investigating officer Cornelius David Dangare of CID CCD a torrid time on the witness stand.
During cross examination, the investigating officer admitted that the USD85,000 in question was not prejudiced as it was still held up in the complainant’s account in Zambia.
Detective Constable Dangare also admitted during cross examination that Muringi was already liquid on other fuel transactions before the disputed USD85,000.00.
This further strengthened Muringi’s defense as his lawyer managed to prove to the court that the second charge of money laundering had not weight no whatsoever against accused since there are track records of business liquidity prior to the transaction in question.
Therefore, the purchase of a Toyota Hilux using any funds from the USD85k failed to hold water against Muringi as there is solid evidence of his successful transactions before.
Due to overwhelming evidence exhibited during cross examinations, Magistrate Munashe Chibanda was left with an easy choice of granting Muringi his freedom.
The complainant in the matter is Tembinkosi Chigogwana of Rukbury Enterprises Limited who reported that Muringi reversed a fuel payment of USD85,000.00 made into the former’s FNB Account in Zambia.
Through court documents in possession of The Herald, we were able to establish the flow of events in this interesting court case.
The complainant who identifies his business Rukbury Enterprises as a bureau de change running operations both in Zimbabwe and Zambia, has been handling Last Kings Holdings’s fuel transactions since 19 July 2023 prior to the transaction in dispute.
The court was further told that on the 21st of July 2023, Cretcast Limited, a client of Last Kings Holdings in Zambia paid USD85,000.00 as fuel payment into Rukbury Enterprises’ FNB Account in favour of Last Kings Holdings.
Rukbury Enterprises confirmed receipt of the said funds and disbursed the equivalent in cash on the Zimbabwean side through a third party using three batches after subtracting a transactional commission in excess of USD3,000.00.
Chigogwana would later on approached Muringi at his Last Kings Holdings offices in Harare using a third party citing that the USD85,000.00 which was paid in his favour had been frozen by FNB Bank in Zambia.
Chigogwana then demanded that Muringi pays him back the cash that has been disbursed but Muringi vehemently refused on strong basis that he cannot make a double payment to a transaction that was confirmed complete by all involved parties a few days ago.
Muringi further argued that he had no powers to freeze or reverse any transaction on Chigogwana’s Rukbury Enterprises’ bank accounts in Zambia since he was a third party with no such powers.
A dispute then erupted between the two parties causing Muringi to summon all the parties which were involved in the transaction. At the expense of Muringi’s company, two delegates from Zambia flew into Harare on the 29th of July 2023 to resolve the matter.
A copy of Minutes recorded and signed in Harare by all the parties involved in the transaction was tendered in court as supporting evidence on Muringi’s submissions for bail.
In that meeting, it was agreed that Tembinkosi Chigogwana being the representative and director of Rukbury Enterprises was to travel to Lusaka, Zambia on the 31st of July 2023 to hold a direct interface with his bank and effect a reversal of USD85,000.00 to Last Kings Holdings’s client Cretcast Limited.
At the back of that reversal, Muringi was to then effect a total reimbursement of USD85,000.00 in cash to Chigogwana’s Rukbury Enterprises tendered to Last Kings Holdings’ in Zimbabwe in order to avoid a double payment.
However, according to that dubbed Harare agreement, Chigogwana did not travel to Zambia to perform his part but rather chose to pester Muringi to give him cash in Zimbabwe, leading to a complete fallout between the parties.
Chigogwana later on laid fraud charges against Muringi at Morris Depot’s CID Commercial Crimes Division with the aid of one Comrade Mboma, who identified himself as a powerful political figure, in a bid to corner Muringi to concede to his demands.
The latter stood his ground causing the matter to finally spill in courts.