Terrence Mukupe, a former Deputy Minister of Finance and Economic Development and three accomplices have been convicted by the High Court of importing 138 979 litres of diesel without paying duty.
In a statement issued this Wednesday, the National Prosecuting Authority of Zimbabwe (NPA) said the accused persons are in custody pending sentence on the 9th of November 2023. Said the NPA:
Former Deputy Minister of Finance and Economic Development Terrence Mukupe together with 3 others have been convicted of importing 138 979 litres of diesel without paying duty.
The State proved that on the 27th of January 2017 at Forbes Border Post in Mutare, Terrence Mukupe, Same Kapisoriso, Joseph Taderera and Leonard Mudzuto connived to unlawfully import diesel without paying duty.
The accused persons misrepresented that the diesel was going to be offloaded in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Pursuant to their plan, they replaced the diesel with water in Zimbabwe.
The matter came to light on the 30th of January 2017 when officials from the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA) intercepted them at Chirundu One Stop Boarder Post to verify the nature of the goods they were carrying.
In so doing the accused persons prejudiced the State of revenue amounting to USD$55 591-60.
The accused persons are in custody pending sentence on the 9th of November 2023 at the Harare High Court.
In April 2018, Mukupe was arrested and fined for assaulting his ministry’s finance director, 58-year-old Ignatius Mvere, for allegedly giving him a “paltry $910 travel allowance”.
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