Makoni West Zanu PF aspiring MP Moses Ruwona will spend another weekend in jail after his ruling was postponed to next Monday.
The Tambwari Holdings owner and businessman landed in trouble after he was given the mandate to facilitate some “free fund-based payments” on behalf of complainants, including Liquid Telecoms (Liquid) and a financial services company’s clients, who wanted to import goods from Mauritius and China.
It is alleged that Ruwona only deposited part of the money and subsequently failed to account, and settle the balance before becoming evasive.
While the defence team has chosen to pursue a line that the transactions between him and the complainants bordered on money laundering, court proceedings showed that the arrangements were based on the sourcing of free funds and which are guaranteed under the exchange control statutory instruments 109 of 1996 and 85/2020.
In this instance, Ruwona was mandated with paying certain suppliers in Mauritius and China using proceeds accrued from his tour operations business in Victoria Falls.
According to the law, the fundamental identification of ‘free funds’ includes lawful accumulation by a Zimbabwean resident, earned in hard cash, limitless in transaction value and not subject to authorisation by exchange control authorities.
Ruwona who defeated ICT minister, Jenfan Muswere in recently held Zanu PF primary elections before he was disqualified.
Allegations are that sometime in December 2022, Aubrey Chademana awarded a Liquid contract to supply outdoor Wi-Fi routers.
According to court papers, the complainant was supposed to import Wi-Fi routers from Liquid’s Mauritian peer.
It is alleged that on December 8, Chademana engaged Ruwona to settle the payment using his offshore foreign currency account.
The accused allegedly provided a fake proof of payment claiming to have transferred the money from his Zambian account to Liquid’s Standard Bank abroad.
On January 20 and February 3 2023, Ruwona and Chiweshe again sent the complainant fake proof of payment.
On March 7, the duo successfully transferred US$280 332 and US$132 151.24 to Liquid, but failed to account for the remaining US$218 249.
Using the same method, they allegedly duped the local advisory firm money of US$256 000 in a deal to import some fabrics.
In other news – Cheating man stones wife to death in infidelity fight
A Mutare man has been arrested for stoning his wife to death after she left the matrimonial home accusing him of having extramarital affairs.
The suspect stoned his wife to death at her unidentified uncle’s residence in Marange, where she had sought refuge. Learn More
