Tonderai Saharo
Businessman Naison Madyambwa stammered and gave contradicting statements when he was put on his defense during his alleged US$60 000 fraud trial.
The businessman who runs Hiepeg tyre services looked confident when he first took to the witness’ stand and boasted of running a flourishing business empire from construction to mining ventures in Masvingo province.
He told the court that he was a man of means who actually assisted his Australian based investor cum lover, Achidaishe Mudzingwa on a number of personal projects since 2021 when they dated.
He claimed at one point he even rented a house for the investor in the flashy Zimre Park suburb and would take her to various business meetings around the country.
However, when he was cross examined by prosecutor Godknows Mungondo, on why he took the investor to Kilmanock mine for a familiarization tour Madyambwa remained mum for a while resulting in the prosecutor repeating the question.
In his response Madyambwa contradicted himself and said the state witness Wallace Mlambo was just a ‘boy’ whom he gave instructions to entertain the investor by giving her a tour of the mining operations while he was engaged in a business meeting at the mine.
He later changed his statement again and told the court that he never instructed the witness to explain any mining operations to the investor much to the surprise of the court.
The businessman acknowledged in court in receiving over US$5 000 from the investor through various money transfer agencies and said he used the money to purchase building materials for the investor’s house she was building.
He denied ever receiving US$50 000 cash from Wailers a company that had been instructed by the investor to hand him the money while she was in Australia and said the fraud charges were fabricated to tarnish his image as a businessman after he had ended the affair.
Magistrate Elizabeth Hanzi is expected to hand down her judgement on the matter on 8 July after the close of his defense.
