US$1,7 million tollgate scam: A tip of the iceberg - insiders

THE arrest of two Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) employees over missing tollgate tickets could just be the tip of the iceberg, with insiders claiming that the duo could have been used as sacrificial lambs.

Victor Nyathi and Martin Memory were last month arrested on allegations that they had stolen tollgate tickets worth more than US$1,7 million, which some employees claim was too good to be true.

An insider claimed that it would have been impossible for the employees to steal the books as they would have needed at least two Nissan T35 trucks to transport the tollgate tickets all over the country.

"At least someone would have seen Nyathi steal the books as moving them is not as easy as we are being made to believe", he said.

It is reported that Nyathi, who has been fingered as the main culprit stole the ticket books between July 6 and August 6, another point disputed by the insiders who questioned how and where the accused could have sold the tickets.

"It takes at least three to six months for us (Zimra) to make such tollgate revenue and to think someone would be able to steal those books and think they can be sold in such a short time is impossible, the insider revealed.

Zimra workers said they could not discount that Nyathi was being used as a sacrificial lamb as evidence suggested that at least a senior manager could have been benefitting from the scandal and when he saw that the net was closing in decided to implicate the accused, who is an administrative clerical assistant at the tax collector.

Investigations by one newspaper have revealed that Nyathi, who joined Zimra last December, had complained there had not been a proper hand-over of assets when he joined the tax collector.
He had also written a number of memos to his supervisor informing him of a number of discrepancies and missing books.

The memos, which detailed the exact missing books and their value were addressed to an L Karonga and also copied to L Zvokuomba, C Pando, and L Muzhanye.

"Something is suspicious in this case because the supervisors already knew beforehand that there were missing books but still let Nyathi be prosecuted, the insider continued.

One of the memos tells that despite the absence of the ticket books, records showed that these were still in the storeroom when a physical count showed that these books were missing.

In one case figures for returned tickets actually outstrips the tickets that had been distributed earlier during the day, with Nyathi asking that they be accounted for.

Sources at the courts have also revealed that there was something suspicious about the whole conduct of the case, fearing that there could be someone pulling the strings.

"The case was brought three times for prosecution and each time the prosecutors declined prosecuting arguing that the State's case was weak, a source said.

They also questioned the way Nyathi was denied bail, questioning on how he could be described a flight risk.

"When the case was being investigated he was out of custody for two months and then all of a sudden he is described as a flight risk", the court official said.

"If he had wanted to flee he would have done so long before he went to the courts."

Chris Mutangadura, the chief law officer at the Attorney General's Office confirmed that the courts had initially refused to prosecute.

"Facts change when police investigate further, he said. "That is why the magistrate and ultimately declined to grant bail."

Mutangadura said despite not opposing bail at the High Court, judges were not bound by the opinion of the AG's office and had their own opinions regarding the case.

Nyathi, through his lawyer, Emmanuel Nyambuya then applied for bail at the High Court, this time armed with consent from the Attorney General's Office which accented that he was not a flight risk and be granted bail.

However, the courts turned down the appeal.
In his court papers Nyambuya alleged that there was massive corruption at Zimra and senior managers were behind the scandal while his client was being used as a scapegoat.

Efforts to get comment from Zimra over the last fortnight have been futile. Officials at the revenue authority asked for questions to be e-mailed but did not respond. Another set of questions was sent this week and again there was no response.