News / National
Fake lawyer in court for fraud
14 Dec 2023 at 03:52hrs | Views
A fake lawyer was brought before the courts yesterday for defrauding a client who is based in United Kingdom of US$50 930, which he claimed was a fee for him to process a court order that would help the client recover US$1 million he had lost.
Givemore Tapera appeared before Harare magistrate Mr Dennis Mangosi charged with fraud and was remanded in custody pending bail application today.
The State opposed bail because Tapera had two previous convictions.
Prosecuting, Mr Thomas Chanakira said sometime in 2019, the client had been defrauded of the US$1 million in a construction project.
In an effort to recover his money, that complainant approached a friend also based in the United Kingdom, who referred him to Tapera, saying she had once been assisted by him in recovering her money.
It is alleged that the complainant contacted Tapera through WhatsApp calls, and he told the complainant that as a lawyer he had the capacity to recover the money through applications for court orders at the High Court against the person who had defrauded him.
He then convinced the complainant to send him money for processing the High Court orders.
Tapera, who is not a lawyer, then forged High Court orders supposedly issued by the High Court in Masvingo, Mutare and Harare.
He used the forged documents to convince the complainant to send more money to process the documents.
Tapera also lied to the complainant that he had attached some vehicles and property in Mutare and requested money to cater for the drivers whom he said were supposed to drive the vehicles from Mutare to Harare.
The court heard that the complainant sent money on 24 occasions to Tapera using World Remit and on four occasions, he collected the money from the complainant's nephew.
It is understood that the complainant discovered the offence when he requested for registration books and title deeds of the recovered property, but Tapera failed to provide any.
The complainant then made a report to the police and investigations were carried out, leading to Tapera's arrest.
Givemore Tapera appeared before Harare magistrate Mr Dennis Mangosi charged with fraud and was remanded in custody pending bail application today.
The State opposed bail because Tapera had two previous convictions.
Prosecuting, Mr Thomas Chanakira said sometime in 2019, the client had been defrauded of the US$1 million in a construction project.
In an effort to recover his money, that complainant approached a friend also based in the United Kingdom, who referred him to Tapera, saying she had once been assisted by him in recovering her money.
It is alleged that the complainant contacted Tapera through WhatsApp calls, and he told the complainant that as a lawyer he had the capacity to recover the money through applications for court orders at the High Court against the person who had defrauded him.
Tapera, who is not a lawyer, then forged High Court orders supposedly issued by the High Court in Masvingo, Mutare and Harare.
He used the forged documents to convince the complainant to send more money to process the documents.
Tapera also lied to the complainant that he had attached some vehicles and property in Mutare and requested money to cater for the drivers whom he said were supposed to drive the vehicles from Mutare to Harare.
The court heard that the complainant sent money on 24 occasions to Tapera using World Remit and on four occasions, he collected the money from the complainant's nephew.
It is understood that the complainant discovered the offence when he requested for registration books and title deeds of the recovered property, but Tapera failed to provide any.
The complainant then made a report to the police and investigations were carried out, leading to Tapera's arrest.
Source - The Herald
