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Herald Reporter
The Zimbabwe National Road Administration (Zinara) allegedly lost US$21 000 ($2 million) to a syndicate of employees working in its cash office through misrepresentation of money paid for fuel levies.

The levy is only payable in US dollars.

The matter came to light on November 7 when Zinara finance director Mr Adam Zvandasara requested Mr Chenjerayi Chibatamoto who is a financial controller to verify purported fuel levy receipts submitted by a company called PurOil Private Limited.

Following the checks, Mr Chibatamoto noticed anomalies in the manner the transactions were captured in its Sage Pastel Accounting system.

“Preliminary internal investigations revealed that on October 21, 2020 Mr Marlon Chikomo the finance executive of PurOil visited Zinara head office and paid US$15 840 being fuel levy for 264 000 litres of petrol.

Mr Chikomo said he was served by a male cashier who gave him an electronic receipt number REC33816 which he was supposed to use to obtain a Direct Fuel Import Licence.

“A check in the Zinara Pastel Accounting System revealed that the receipt submitted by PurOil was not recorded in the system. Instead the receipt number reflects in the system as belonging to Westemead Pvt Limited which allegedly paid US$80 for fuel levy.

“However, a further search for the transactions in the accounting system revealed that both the US$15 840 and US$80 were not recorded as fuel levy collections for October 21, 2020, and could not be traced to the Zinara bank statements,” reads part of Zinara’s statement to police.

The investigations also noted that the office bank record of October 21, which was supposed to be signed by five employees in the cash office (names supplied) and attached to the daily transactional report was missing.

Further investigations showed that PurOil paid US$5 280 on November 12 for the fuel levy for importation of 88 000 litres but the transaction was not recorded in the accounting system.

Investigations showed that receipts issued to the company belonged to one Zenda valued at $20 and was for prepaid tolling cards.

The transaction was also not captured in the daily cash office banking records for the day.

National ZRP spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi confirmed investigations into the matter.

“The ZRP can confirm receiving a report on the alleged fraud at the Zinara cash office,” he said.

Meanwhile, Zinara also reported Mr Jeremia Singende, who also works in the cash office, to the police for allegedly using fake sick leave notes fraudulently obtained from Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals to absent himself from duty.

A letter from Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals signed by its acting clinical director Dr Tapiwa Magure on November 12, 2020, confirmed that a sick note presented by Mr Singende was fake and corruptly obtained.