Fake robbery, two Mashwede employees steal US$17K in fuel coupons
Two Mashwede Holdings employees were yesterday convicted of stealing fuel coupons worth nearly US$17 000 and faking an armed robbery to cover up.
Edson Mashamhanda, who was a bookkeeper and Ernest Nevanji Madanhire an ICT officer, was convicted of fraud by Harare magistrate Mrs Evelyn Mashavirakure after a full trial.
They are expected back in court today for their submissions in mitigation and sentence.
The State led by Mr Moses Mapanga told the court that the two were first offenders with no records of previous convictions.
Mr Mapanga proved during trial that in March 2020, Mashwede Holdings fuel coupons printer, Laptime Design and Print, printed 40 000 petrol coupons which were collected by Madanhire.
Madanhire then hooked up with Mashamhanda and hatched a plan to dupe their employer. On March 11, 2020 Mashamhanda declared to the accounts department that he had received 17 000 litres worth of petrol coupons from Madanhire.
On March 24, Madanhire sold another 6 000 litres of fuel coupons for US$7 500, which he acknowledged receipt and Mashamhanda deducted US$600 as commission and handed him US$6 900. No funds were remitted to the company, which owned the coupons, and recorded into Mashwede’s books.
April 4, 2020, an armed robber pounced on Mashwede Holdings’ premises where money and fuel coupons and other property was stolen.
Mashamhanda and Madanhire, then decided to report that the coupons they had taken earlier, the 17 000 litres, would be added to those coupons stolen by the robbers, taking the total to 23 000 litres had been stolen.
Mashwede Holdings carried out a stock reconciliation to establish how many coupons had been stolen and revealed that Mashamhanda was in custody of 11 240 litres of fuel coupons.
Out of caution, Mashwede Holdings notified fuel attendants not to accept fuel coupons stolen during the robbery.
On April 8, 2020 a client David Clinton went to Mashwede service station to redeem fuel coupons purchased from Madanhire on March 24, 2020, well before the robbery.
Further investigations at Mashwede Holdings revealed that the two had failed to declare fuel coupons worth 3 000 litres tat were collected from the printers
It was also revealed that they had sold 6 000 litres worth of fuel coupons to David Clinton’s companies with 3 000 litres having not been declared.
On March 23, 2020 Mashamhanda received US$2 050 from Muvengwa Changamire from the sale of fuel coupons from previous debtors.
Mashamhanda only recorded the money in Muvengwa Changamire’s debtors’ book, failed to record it in the company books and converted the proceeds to his own use.
He received US$1 000 cash from Changamire from sale of 1 000 litres of fuel coupons, which money he converted to own use. About 760 litres sold at US$1,15 a litre and redeemed well before the robbery was not recorded and they were valued at US$874.
Further investigations revealed that the company had been defrauded for a total of US$16 850.
-Herald
