Crimes and Courts Correspondent
Two prominent Harare businessmen, Satishbhai Patel, director of Honda Centre, and Ebrahim Mahomad, director of Union Hardware, have been arrested and charged with US$1.4 million fraud following a shady property deal.
The alleged fraud involves the sale of a partially developed property in Harare’s Salisbury township, which was originally purchased by Meadow Sweet Investments (Private) Limited in 2002. After the directors left Zimbabwe in 2004, the property lay idle until 2011, when Patel and Mahomad hatched a plan to defraud the complainant.
The Alleged Scam
- Patel and Mahomad drafted a special resolution, falsely claiming Patel was a director of Meadow Sweet Investments, and authorized to sell the property on its behalf.
- They created a power of attorney, empowering fugitive Cuthbert Chengeta to transfer the property to the Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority (ZERA).
- The duo sold the property to ZERA, despite having no legal right to do so.
In 2023, Dr. Muchazoreka Richardson Nyamugama, a director of Meadow Sweet Investments, discovered the property had been renovated and was being used by ZERA. Investigations revealed that Chengeta had transferred the property into ZERA’s name using a power of attorney signed by Patel.
The State’s Case
“The complainant never met the accused persons or authorized the sale of the property,” prosecutors allege. Furthermore, Patel was never a director of Meadow Sweet Investments, contrary to the resolution.
The Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA) also found that the capital gains tax certificate submitted for the property transfer was not authentic and not in their records.
Consequences
The complainant suffered a prejudice of US$1.4 million, with no recovery made so far. Patel and Mahomad are accused of contravening section 136 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act chapter 9:23.
Their actions have sparked concerns about property fraud and the need for greater transparency in Zimbabwe’s real estate sector.
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