News / Local
Judge hit out at theiving bosses
27 Mar 2017 at 23:17hrs | Views
A HIGH Court judge based in Bukawayo - Justice Nicholas Mathonsi slammed bosses of loss-making parastatals for continuously stealing large sums of money from the State-owned entities for personal aggrandisement.
Mathonsi's anger was directed at former Grain Marketing Board (GMB) Bulawayo's Kelvin West depot manager, Tapiwa Musvazvi who had approached the High Court challenging his conviction and sentence for fleecing the parastatal of $16 000.
"If there is any reason why struggling parastatals in this country will never extricate themselves from the financial malady, the incongruous state of financial decay they currently find themselves in, it is because of senior management in the mould of the present appellant who have constituted themselves as middlemen, trading with the same parastatals they are assigned to superintend, for their own person aggrandisement," said Mathonsi.
Musvazvi and his five subordinates defrauded GMB of more than $16 000 by forging receipts for fictitious grain deliveries of about 61 tonnes on two different occasions. He used the money to buy a residential flat.
He was sentenced to eight years in jail of which two years were suspended for five years on condition of good behaviour. Three years were further suspended on condition Musvazvi restituted the stolen money leaving him with an effective three year imprisonment.
The aggrieved Musvazvi, through his lawyers, R Ndlovu and Company, then launched an appeal against both conviction and sentence.
Justice Mathonsi said Musvazvi acted out of greed and abused his position to steal the money.
"This was one of those bad cases. The appellant fleeced a struggling state enterprise of large sums of money propelled only by greed.
" He bought an immovable property directly from money siphoned from his employer. He held a position of trust as a senior official but abused his position not only by stealing from his employer, but recruiting subordinates to achieve his nefarious goal, and therefore imprisonment was unavoidable in the circumstances," said the judge.
Justice Mathonsi dismissed the appeal and upheld the sentence.
"This is a person who had fallen from grace and although he benefited from the offence, there was need to tamper justice with mercy. The two counts should have been treated as one for the purposes of sentence. In the result, it is ordered that the appeal against conviction is dismissed and the appeal against sentence is hereby upheld," ruled the judge.
He quashed the sentence and substituted it with a five year imprisonment of which one year is suspended for five years on condition Musvazvi does not within that period commit a similar crime.
"Of the remaining four years, two years is suspended on condition the appellant restitutes the complainant the sum of $16 711,20 on or before June 30, 2017. Effective sentence is two years," said Justice Mathonsi.
The State, through Ms Nokuthaba Ngwenya, opposed the application, arguing that both conviction and sentence were proper and met the justice of the case.
The court heard that on November 10 in 2010, Musvazvi and his five subordinates misrepresented to GMB by making fictitious transactions purportedly made between the company and one Abson Chinho. Through his actions, Musvazvi deceived GMB into paying Chinho $8 119,10.
Two weeks later, Musvazvi used the same modus operandi to fleece GMB of $8 592,10 which was again paid to Chinho as purchase price for a flat.
In December 2011, GMB's loss control officers were assigned to investigate some suspicious grain deliveries and payments during which they uncovered the two anomalous transactions.
The records showed that between November 10 and November 26, 2010, Chinho delivered 60 768 tonnes of maize to GMB and he was paid $16 711,20 ostensibly for the maize delivery.
However, in actual fact, the money was a purchase price for a flat Chinho sold to Musvazvi.
Musvazvi signed the grain receipts and instructed his subordinates to pay Chinho the money from the GMB account.
The money went to the credit of Musvazvi in settlement of a debt he owed Chinho towards the purchase price of the flat.
Mathonsi's anger was directed at former Grain Marketing Board (GMB) Bulawayo's Kelvin West depot manager, Tapiwa Musvazvi who had approached the High Court challenging his conviction and sentence for fleecing the parastatal of $16 000.
"If there is any reason why struggling parastatals in this country will never extricate themselves from the financial malady, the incongruous state of financial decay they currently find themselves in, it is because of senior management in the mould of the present appellant who have constituted themselves as middlemen, trading with the same parastatals they are assigned to superintend, for their own person aggrandisement," said Mathonsi.
Musvazvi and his five subordinates defrauded GMB of more than $16 000 by forging receipts for fictitious grain deliveries of about 61 tonnes on two different occasions. He used the money to buy a residential flat.
He was sentenced to eight years in jail of which two years were suspended for five years on condition of good behaviour. Three years were further suspended on condition Musvazvi restituted the stolen money leaving him with an effective three year imprisonment.
The aggrieved Musvazvi, through his lawyers, R Ndlovu and Company, then launched an appeal against both conviction and sentence.
Justice Mathonsi said Musvazvi acted out of greed and abused his position to steal the money.
"This was one of those bad cases. The appellant fleeced a struggling state enterprise of large sums of money propelled only by greed.
" He bought an immovable property directly from money siphoned from his employer. He held a position of trust as a senior official but abused his position not only by stealing from his employer, but recruiting subordinates to achieve his nefarious goal, and therefore imprisonment was unavoidable in the circumstances," said the judge.
Justice Mathonsi dismissed the appeal and upheld the sentence.
He quashed the sentence and substituted it with a five year imprisonment of which one year is suspended for five years on condition Musvazvi does not within that period commit a similar crime.
"Of the remaining four years, two years is suspended on condition the appellant restitutes the complainant the sum of $16 711,20 on or before June 30, 2017. Effective sentence is two years," said Justice Mathonsi.
The State, through Ms Nokuthaba Ngwenya, opposed the application, arguing that both conviction and sentence were proper and met the justice of the case.
The court heard that on November 10 in 2010, Musvazvi and his five subordinates misrepresented to GMB by making fictitious transactions purportedly made between the company and one Abson Chinho. Through his actions, Musvazvi deceived GMB into paying Chinho $8 119,10.
Two weeks later, Musvazvi used the same modus operandi to fleece GMB of $8 592,10 which was again paid to Chinho as purchase price for a flat.
In December 2011, GMB's loss control officers were assigned to investigate some suspicious grain deliveries and payments during which they uncovered the two anomalous transactions.
The records showed that between November 10 and November 26, 2010, Chinho delivered 60 768 tonnes of maize to GMB and he was paid $16 711,20 ostensibly for the maize delivery.
However, in actual fact, the money was a purchase price for a flat Chinho sold to Musvazvi.
Musvazvi signed the grain receipts and instructed his subordinates to pay Chinho the money from the GMB account.
The money went to the credit of Musvazvi in settlement of a debt he owed Chinho towards the purchase price of the flat.
Source - Chronicle
