Zinara tollgate cashier up for theft

Prosper Dembedza Herald Correspondent

A 34-year-old Zimbabwe National Road Administration tollgate cashier has appeared in court on allegations of stealing $16 196 143 from NetOne Cellular (Pvt) Ltd.

Tongai Clive Shonhiwa (34) was facing theft charges when he appeared before Harare magistrate Mr Dennis Mangosi.

He was freed on $50 000 bail.

The complainant is NetOne Cellular (Pvt) Ltd, represented by its fraud manager Mr Munyaradzi Hove.

The court heard that during the period extending from July 2022 to date, Zinara received Point of Sale machines from various banks with NetOne Post Paid Data lines for use at tollgates across the country.

It is alleged that Shonhiwa was aware that all the Point-of-Sale machines had post-paid data lines. On dates unknown but during the same period, Shonhiwa and during the course of his duties, unlawfully removed several Post Paid NetOne data sim cards from Point-of-Sale machines under his charge. Whilst in possession of these Netone Post Paid Sim cards, he unlawfully gained access to NetOne x131# and x371# and further gained access to data recharge platforms. The accused would then sell the post-paid data lines to unsuspecting clients claiming that the lines had several benefits and packages including unlimited data recharge and talk time.

It is the State’s case that during the same period Shonhiwa sold two NetOne post-paid data line 0719377873 and 0719376508 to Courage Nemaisa for USD$ 500-00.

The court heard that Nemaisa then gave one of the post-paid lines to Talent Taunezvi and the two used these lines to transfer data bundles to clients. Nemaisa and Taunezvi used the acquired the lines and accessed the x131 recharge platform and transferred data to several clients at a lower price than the official price. The complainant came across the advertisement and reported the matter to police who conducted investigations into the matter leading to the arrest of Nemaisa and Taunezvi in Mutare on November 23.

The two were interviewed and they implicated the accused person who was arrested at Shamva tollgate. As a result of the accused’s action, NetOne Cellular (Pvt) Ltd suffered an actual prejudice of $16 196 143 and nothing has been recovered so far.

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