Fraudulent Filling Station - workers face uncertain future

Indigenous fuel importing company Glow Petroleum faces a bleak future as investigations into allegations of massive customs duty fraud intensify.

Reports from company sources in Harare claim that the future of the company which took the fuel industry by storm last year looks very gloom as the net closes in on the company directors for defrauding the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority of millions of US dollars in false fuel declarations. According to the sources the company directors who are wanted by the police are on the run leaving the employees not sure of the way forward for the company as fuel deposits dwindle.

According to a Herald report the director of the company Aaron Chinhara was picked up by the police for initial question last week and released but has since been on the run from the police. In the course of the investigations, The Herald reports that drivers of the delivery trucks have had to dumb the trucks at the company's various filling stations in the country as the police were questioning the drivers who expressed ignorance on the source of the fuel.

The company is reported to have imported more than 37 million litres of fuel and falsely declared the fuel to be being imported on behalf of the army and so importing the fuel duty free. Questions started being asked when the company's  Gwanda filling station was seen selling fuel at ridiculously low prices like $1.32 per litre of petrol and $1.18 per litre of diesel. The country's average price at most filling stations is $1.49 for petrol and $1.37 for diesel.

A visit to the company's Gwanda Filling Station showed that the company had only slightly increased its price for petrol to $1.38 per litre and left the diesel price at $1.18 per litre. A delivery truck for the company was also seen parked at the filling station amidst claims that it has been parked there for close to a week after the driver dumped it to avoid questioning by the police.

A member of staff at one one of the filling stations said that they faced an uncertain future in the company as fuel is running out in the tanks and no deliveries are being sent through. The employee claims that the company has in fact started dismissing some of its employees.

Senior government officials are reported to be part of the scum which has made investigations difficult to proceed. Names of former Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor Gideon Gono and Transport Minister Obert Mpofu are reportedly appearing in the list of high ranking officials linked to the case.