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Mugabe's office date stamp forged

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26 Jun 2011 at 14:22hrs | Views
ONE CHEEKY suspected fraudster appeared in court facing a charge of forging the President's Office date stamp will be languishing in custody for two weeks. Avia Padera, 36, of Mbare, a date stamp maker, was not asked to plead to the two counts of fraud when he appeared before Harare magistrate Shane Kubonera.

He was remanded in custody to June 27 and will be languishing in the stocks until then. State, led by prosecutor Nyikadzino Machingura, alleges that on May 23 and 24, at PG Hardware in Graniteside, Avia connived with two others still at large to manufacture a fake date stamp of the President's Office.

It is said they forged the date stamp for the office of the District Development Fund. It is claimed that they also forged government requisition forms which they tendered to PG and GLYNN's Hardware and they fraudulently acquired some building material from both (hardwares).

The State indications are that suspects had passed themselves off as officers from the President's Office.

Further allegations are that the two took material worth US$54 600 before disappearing on the pretext that it was for the high office.

It is claimed that the suspected fraudsters were positively identified by the complainants (hardware authorities) as the people who had tendered the forged government forms. Avia and his colleagues are said to have led to the recovery of the property in Mabelreign and he was arrested and brought to court.

His co-accused are still on the run.

Source - hm