Police Arrest ZIMRA Employees, Car Dealers For Smuggling Vehicles Into The Country
The Zimbabwe Republic Police is rounding up Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA) employees, clearing agents and car dealers suspected to have been involved in the smuggling of vehicles into the country.
This follows the publication of a list of vehicles that were imported into the country fraudulently by ZIMRA.
The smuggled vehicles were subsequently illegally registered with the Central Vehicle Registry (CVR).
Among those arrested include Konekai Takaidza, a ZIMRA employee who was stationed at Southerton offices in Harare.
Takaidza allegedly connived with a vehicle clearing agent and stole 2 000 Customs Clearance Certificates (CCCs). The stolen CCCs would then be used to fraudulently register imported cars.
In one such case, Takaidza teamed up with the director of Macrocell Investments, Handsome Mbedzi (43) of Gwanda to steal CCCs from ZIMRA stores in Southerton in June 2015, and in 2016, they used the stolen forms to register Sindiwe Mpofu’s smuggled Honda Fit with CVR and were issued with registration number AEA 9877.
The offence came to light in September 2019 and two were arrested and have since appeared separately at the Harare magistrates’ Courts charged with fraud. Magistrate Victoria Mashamba Victoria Mashamba remanded them on $200 bail each.
