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Fungai Lupande Court Reporter
A former retail manager for AfricOil Limited Zimbabwe, accused of swindling close to $1 million using fake companies to get fuel on credit, has applied for a temporal release of his passport.

Ronald Masimba Nyandoro (40), who is facing fraud charges, told a Harare court on Wednesday that he intends to travel to South Africa on business.

He also sought temporal relaxation of his reporting conditions.

Harare magistrate Ms Barbara Chimboza granted the application and ordered that the passport be returned by March 29.

Nyandoro is on $500 bail and is expected back in court on May 11.

He was represented by Advocate Webster Chinamora.

The complainant, AfricOil Limited, a South African-registered company with a subsidiary in Zimbabwe, is being represented by its credit controller Mzwakhe Mdakane.

Prosecuting, Mr Sebastian Mutizirwa told the court that Nyandoro’s duties included looking for new clients and managing operations in the country.

AfricOil distributes bulk fuel and has a credit facility to approved companies which receive fuel for resale. The company has fuel depots in Beitbridge and Bulawayo.

It is alleged that Nyandoro submitted credit application forms for 10 companies which had not applied for the facility.

It is alleged that the fake applications were approved.

The court heard that between August 2015 and July 2016 Nyandoro reportedly collected varying quantities of fuel from AfricOil deports.

The offence came to light when Mdakane discovered that some companies had accumulated huge debts and were not making efforts to clear their arrears.

He made follow-ups with some of the companies and discovered that they had not placed orders.

Some of the companies alleged to have purchased fuel were non-existent. A report was made to police leading to Nyandoro’s arrest.

AfricOil lost $976 608 and nothing was recovered.