A-RUWA man who impersonated a police officer and robbed her of US$98 000 in a botched Ponzi scheme was today arraigned before Harare magistrate Dennis Mangosi to answer to the charges.
The suspect, Shephard Chibaya (34) was remanded in custody until November 24.
It is alleged that he committed the offence sometime in February 2019, after he engaged the complainant Mary Norah Chiweshe to join his Ponzi scheme called Beven Capital and invest money.
During the same month, Chiweshe injected US$150 000 into the scheme after she was informed that she will get 50% interest after six weeks.
The interest she was supposed to earn accumulated to US$300 000. When she decided to withdraw the money, she could not locate Beven Capital Investments offices after they were closed during the COVID-19 period.
She got in touch with Chibaya but he was evasive.
After some days, the accused told the complainant that he had engaged the boss, and was told that all the scheme’s money was held at the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) offices due to lack of payment of taxes.
Chibaya said US$58 000 was needed to get Zimra to release the funds. Chiweshe then gave Chibaya the money.
After some days, Chibaya told Chiweshe that Zimra had released the money, but added that he had been intercepted by police detectives who seized US$200 000 and they needed US$13 000 to release it.
The complainant gave the accused the US$13 000 anticipating that he…
