Company loses $3,3m to fraudster in fuel deal

A HARARE woman has been arraigned to court for allegedly swindling a local firm of US$3 million in a botched fuel supply deal

The deal involved 30 000 litres of diesel.

The suspect, Chenaimoyo Vimbainashe Gwatidzo (30) appeared before Harare magistrate Dennis Mangosi charged with fraud.

Sindiso Bondwa Nkatazo, who is one of the directors of Agrisys PL is the complainant in the matter.

Allegations are that on January 18 this year, the complainant wanted to purchase fuel for his company and he was referred to Gwatidzo by Tawanda Mangi.

They met in central Harare where Gwatidzo allegedly misrepresented to the complainant that she was a marketing executive for Premium Petroleum PL, which has authority to import fuel using local currency.

It is alleged that Gwatidzo asked Agrisys to pay US$3 393 000 into the Premium Petroleum PL CBZ Bank account for 30 000 litres of diesel.

On January 25, the accused advised the complainant to pay US$3 500 for logistics, and the money was collected by Gwatidzo's operations manager only identified in court papers as Dylan.

Nkatazo waited for the delivery of the fuel at his depot in Msasa, Harare, to no avail.

Nkatazo then tried to locate Gwatidzo to resolve the matter, but she allegedly became evasive.