No Room for Public Funds Abuse: Mike Chimombe, Moses Mpofu Jailed

...Effective 15 and 12 yrs in US$7.7m Presidential Goats Scheme Fraud

By Kwedu Correspondent

Harare - A High Court Judge on Monday sentenced businessmen Mike Chimombe and Moses Mpofu to effective 15 and 12 years prison terms respectively for orchestrating what the court called “the most serious case of fraud” Zimbabwe has seen in 45 years of independence.

Delivering an extempore judgment lasting more than three hours, Justice Pisirayi Kwenda repeatedly quoted from his own findings and from the accuseds’ admissions on record.

On the fictitious company at the heart of the scam, the judge said:

"He (the accused) was aware that Blacktech Livestock and Poultry Farming was not a registered company. He was also aware that for that reason it lacked capacity to act… The result would be that the fictitious company was then unlawfully clothed with the corporate identity of Blacktech Private Limited.”

Chimombe, who signed the US$87 million contract on behalf of the non-existent entity, had admitted in evidence.

“I agreed to sign the contract on behalf of Blacktech Livestock and Poultry Farming which turned out to be a fictitious company," he said.

The court found that counterfeit Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA) and National Social Security Authority (NSSA) tax clearance certificates were “perfect” forgeries.

A ZIMRA official testified that the documents only revealed themselves as fake when electronically scanned.

Justice Kwenda said "the officer who gave evidence on behalf of NSSA even said it is difficult to tell how this was achieved, but all the same it was achieved… That’s how sophisticated this crime was.”

On Mpofu’s role, the judge was scathing.

“The inference that we drew… was that he was attending to advance his personal interests and that is association with a fictitious company… He clearly associated himself with the grand plan to misrepresent the fictitious company which submitted the bid as a registered company.”

The court rejected Mpofu’s claim that he had attended meetings only as chairman of an economic empowerment lobby group.

“He’s a director of a company and he knows how companies act. He knows that companies act by way of resolution.

"He did not have a resolution from the economic empowerment group to represent it… He had no reason to even assert… that he attended a meeting concerning a government tender wearing his position of power as chairperson of a political pressure group.

"That is completely misplaced, that’s abuse of power.” The Judge said.

Treasury released the equivalent of US$7,712,197 as an advance payment. Almost none was recovered.

“Throughout the trial the first accused person maintained that the bulk of the money received from the Ministry was traded on the foreign currency black market… No record was kept of how that money was traded on the black market… It was not banked, notwithstanding the requirements of the Bank Use Promotion Act.” Justice Kwenda said.

Applying Zimbabwe’s binding 2023 Sentencing Guidelines for the first time in a major economic crime, the judge declared the fraud aggravated because it involved public funds, considerable value, non-recovery of proceeds and vulnerable intended beneficiaries.

The Judge said the presumptive starting point is 20 years’ imprisonment. He said resultant to their actions, the programme essentially collapsed.

"The implications of the suspension are that they have impacted negatively on the intended rural vulnerable groups, disabled persons, child-headed families, elderly-headed households, widow-headed households and chronically ill or orphaned households.

"This has eroded public trust in government rural programmes [and] damaged the image of the head of state who was spearheading this programme,” Justice Kwenda said.

In mitigation, Chimombe apologised to the head of state and to the people of Zimbabwe at large, however, the judge observed:

“Although coming very late… an accused person who believes in his innocence is entitled to defend himself, and when he realises that he was wrong… he must still be given credit for acknowledging wrongdoing.”

Mpofu’s lawyer pleaded his client’s chronic hypertension and argued he had played only a minor role.

The judge accepted that co-perpetrators’ roles differed.

"When it comes to sentencing, the role of each co-perpetrator becomes very significant and the court is obliged to distinguish in sentencing between co-perpetrators,” the Judge said.

In the final sentences (after suspensions for good behaviour and restitution), Mike Chimombe was given 22 years, of which 7 years were suspended leaving him with an effective 15 years behind bars.

Moses Mpofu was given 17 years, of which 5 years were suspended leaving him with an effective 12 years.

Before pronouncing the sentences, Justice Kwenda warned that deterrent sentences are a necessity to end misuse of public funds.

“We understand that abuse of funds has become a major concern… There must be a deliberate shift towards imposing deterrence when it comes to cases involving public funds… Like-minded people should be deterred by the sentence that we are going to impose,” he said.

Both men, in custody since June 2024, remained visibly impassive as the sentences were read.

Their lawyers, Ashiel Mugiya, Professor Lovemore Madhuku and Tapson Dzvetero, immediately indicated that they will seek bail pending appeal.