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Yeukai Karengezeka  Court Correspondent 

A man has appeared in court for allegedly luring a potential business partner into a non-existent mining deal and enticing him to cede his house to get capital to inject into the business.

Freddy Makuvise (68) appeared in court over the weekend before Harare magistrate Mrs Ethel Chichera charged with fraud.

He was remanded in custody pending bail ruling to be handed down tomorrow.

The complainant is Wilson William Nharingo.

The State led by Mr Tinotenda Masimba alleged that sometime in November 2011, Makuvise approached Nharingo with an idea of venturing into his mining business.

He misrepresented to Nharingo that he had a mine in Chegutu and could partner him to operate it.

Makuvise lied that since he owned the mine and Nharingo owned a house, he had to apply for a loan with CBZ and cede his house to the bank.

Makuvise said applying for a bank loan was the only way which Nharingo could use to obtain the money for the company.

After getting the money, Makuvise also lied that both of them would get equal profits of 50 percent each from any production realised from the mine.

Makuvise applied for the loan and Nharingo ceded his house as surety and the two were given the loan. The loan was deposited into Makuvise’s account.

He allegedly then used the money for personal benefit.

Realising that he had been duped and that Makuvise did not own any mine, Nharingo reported the matter to the police.