Story by Parvel Makona
THREE Harare City Council employees appeared in court this week, accused of orchestrating a sophisticated fraud that allegedly cost the local authority more than US$500 000.
Emmanuel Dzinomurumbi, 53, Priscilla Dzvikidzo, 54, and Valerie Mark, 33, are facing charges of fraud after allegedly manipulating the council’s receipting system to divert payments for personal gain.
The trio appeared at Harare Magistrates Court following an investigation by the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC).
Court proceedings revealed that between January 2022 and March 2023, the council’s RTGS section received proof of payments from clients totalling US$300 000. It is alleged that after processing these payments, the accused fraudulently reversed the transactions in the system without making proper journal adjustments.
This manipulation reportedly created the false appearance that funds were still available in the system, enabling the employees to reallocate the money. The accused then allegedly created new receipting vouchers for accounts unrelated to the original payments, without the knowledge of the depositors.
They are further accused of misrepresenting to the council that account holders had settled their dues while diverting the money for personal use. The scheme is also linked to two additional counts involving US$25 000 and US$189 000, bringing the total alleged losses to US$500 000.
The suspects were each granted US$500 bail and are expected to return to court on May 13.
