Suspects In $5 Billion Money Laundering Case Granted Bail
The High Court yesterday granted bail to 6 people who stand accused of using their business Bailey Charamba Investments and Family First Choice Supermarket to launder money out of Zimbabwe amounting to $5 Billion, the Daily News reports.
Justice Pisirayi granted Simbarashe Charamba $50 000 bail and Felix Chikuse, Vimbai Charamba, Rudo Charamba, Shumirai Charamba, and Gideon Kabanda and ordered them to post bail of $30 000 each and further ordered them to reside at their current addresses and report to the police twice a week.
It is the state’s case that:
Between January 1 and June 30 this year, Simbarashe Charamba acting in connivance with his co-accused manipulated a mobile money platform by registering a bulk payer agent line and a number of agent lines which he used to facilitate the purchase of foreign currency from the public.
Employees at Family First Choice Supermarket allegedly conducted forex transactions from the supermarket offices on the specific direction of Charamba buying foreign currency from the parallel market.
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In pursuing their alleged arrangement, the State alleges that they transacted a total of $4 979 643 231.81 through the bulk agent line and redistributed this to 40 different Bailey Charamba Investments agent lines in order to disguise the illicit origins of the money.
Chikuse and Kabanda, as the directors of Bailey Charamba Investments, allegedly received commission from Charamba monthly as the registered owners of the 40 agent lines used in facilitating the transactions.
In granting them bail, Justice Chitapi said the state failed to give credible reasons why they should be denied bail:
The learned regional magistrate accepted that the first charge of dealing in foreign currency was a finable offence in the first instance. As a general rule the fact that an offence has a provision for a fine as opposed to mandatory imprisonment may act as a disincentive to the applicant who applies for bail to want to abscond.
The government in August this year banned the use of mobile money agent lines and said it was investigating those who were involved in illegal parallel market activities using agent lines.
More: Daily News
