HARARE - A City of Harare clerk who allegedly swindled council of $30 000 was arraigned before Harare Magistrates’ Court yesterday.

Wengai Tsomba, 29, appeared before magistrate Anita Tshuma who remanded him to September 17 on $100 bail.
Tsomba’s duties were to receive money from various clients on behalf of the council and also preparing money received for banking.

The court heard that on June 18 this year, Tsomba and  his accomplices Tapera Mugadza, 30, Anselm Midzi, 57, Martin Joseph Alexander, 61, Teneyi Kureya, 24, and Mugauri Sanderson, 30, who are also clerks and a municipal police officer Lovemore Kambeu, 33, allegedly connived to hatch a plan to swindle $30 000 from the council.

Prosecutor Francisca Mukumbiri told the court that on June 19 Tsomba received $39 718 from various clients.

He was supposed to deposit the money into council’s Kingdom Bank account in Msasa.

Instead of entering the correct information of the amount into the computer system, it is alleged Tsomba withheld $30 000 and entered false information relating to the transaction which he conducted on the previous day into the computer system.

According to state papers, Tsomba and his accomplices wrote two deposit slips, one reflecting $9 718 and the other $39 718 and forwarded a slip reflecting $9 718 for banking.

After depositing the money, Tsomba and his accomplices allegedly produced the $39 718 deposit slip which they stamped with a counterfeit date stamp bearing the Kingdom Bank logo purporting they had deposited the amount.

However, the scam was later unearthed by council finance controller Rosemary Kaunda, during an internal audit, leading to the arrest of Tsomba’s accomplices.

Tsomba was arrested later after police investigations.

He was ordered to report every Friday at CID Serious Fraud Division and not to interfere with State witnesses as part of his bail conditions.