News / Local
Tendai Biti in US$231,000 fraud storm
01 Nov 2023 at 10:16hrs | Views
Tendai Biti, a senior member of the Citizen for Coalition for Change (CCC), is currently facing a major crisis, as he has become embroiled in an alleged US$231,000 fraud case. This investigation involves two connected cases reported to the CID Commercial Crimes Unit under reference numbers CR76/11/22 and ER 135/22. The complainants are businessmen Piwai Chiutsi and Tendai Mashamanda, director of Mashwede Holdings, regarding the attachment of property at 41 Ridgeway North in Harare.
According to a communication sent on October 30 by Detective Chief Inspector Acting Commanding Officer Team 1 (Commercial Crimes Division N/R CID) Mabasa S., Biti is accused of fabricating a Special Power of Attorney and claiming that businessman Elliot Rogers, based in the United Kingdom, had instructed him to obtain money from Chiutsi. Chiutsi allegedly owed Rogers $125,000 USD.
Biti reportedly received a payment of US$231,000, which included interest and legal fees, but he intentionally failed to make any payment to Rogers. The forged special power of attorney used by Biti to attach the mentioned property was disowned by Rogers, who claimed it was fake.
Biti allegedly created multiple forged documents while impersonating Rogers. This issue, initially raised in 2020, resurfaced last week. Court documents reveal that Biti allegedly used Constantine Chaza as his proxy and submitted a fictitious special power of attorney to Eliot Rogers on February 26, 2020, at the High Court in Harare, with Tendai Mashamhanda as the other party.
Once Mashamhanda was able to reach Rogers in the UK, who denied granting any power of attorney to Biti, the case was reported to the police. Substantial disparities were discovered between the special power of attorney previously signed by Elliot and the document examined by the CID Forensic Laboratory, revealing that different individuals had signed the signatures.
Biti has previously been implicated in other major corruption scandals, including an alleged US$30 million scandal in 2022 when it was revealed that, while serving as the Finance Minister during the GNU, he had instructed NSSA to invest funds in two failing banks.
According to a communication sent on October 30 by Detective Chief Inspector Acting Commanding Officer Team 1 (Commercial Crimes Division N/R CID) Mabasa S., Biti is accused of fabricating a Special Power of Attorney and claiming that businessman Elliot Rogers, based in the United Kingdom, had instructed him to obtain money from Chiutsi. Chiutsi allegedly owed Rogers $125,000 USD.
Biti reportedly received a payment of US$231,000, which included interest and legal fees, but he intentionally failed to make any payment to Rogers. The forged special power of attorney used by Biti to attach the mentioned property was disowned by Rogers, who claimed it was fake.
Once Mashamhanda was able to reach Rogers in the UK, who denied granting any power of attorney to Biti, the case was reported to the police. Substantial disparities were discovered between the special power of attorney previously signed by Elliot and the document examined by the CID Forensic Laboratory, revealing that different individuals had signed the signatures.
Biti has previously been implicated in other major corruption scandals, including an alleged US$30 million scandal in 2022 when it was revealed that, while serving as the Finance Minister during the GNU, he had instructed NSSA to invest funds in two failing banks.
Source - Zimetro
