Businessmen Chimombe and Mpofu Jailed Overnight on Fraud Charges
By Staff Reporter
Two high-profile businessmen, Moses Mpofu and Mike Chimombe, are spending the night behind bars after a court appearance on fraud charges resulted in their remand in custody.
Mpofu, 49, the Managing Director of Blackdeck Water Limited, and his co-accused, Chimombe, 43, faced the court after being summoned by the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) early Wednesday morning. They are represented by lawyers Ashriel Mugiya and Tapson Dzvetero.
The charges against Mpofu and Chimombe relate to the 2021 Presidential Goat Pass-on Scheme, a government initiative aimed at reducing poverty in rural areas across Zimbabwe’s 10 provinces by distributing special goat breeds to households and village heads.
In September 2021, the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Water, Fisheries, and Rural Development issued a tender for the supply and delivery of goats, attracting bids from four companies, including Blackdeck Livestock and Poultry Farming.
Prosecutors allege that Mpofu and Chimombe, in a bid to defraud the government, submitted a forged ZIMRA Tax Clearance Certificate and an NSSA compliance certificate, misrepresenting that Blackdeck met all legal requirements.
Investigations revealed that the documents were falsified, with NSSA and ZIMRA confirming that Blackdeck had been deregistered and had never received a tax clearance certificate for 2021. Despite this, the Ministry awarded Blackdeck the contract to supply 632,001 goats, valued at US$87.8 million, and made an advance payment of ZWL$1.6 billion (approximately US$7.7 million) to Blackdeck’s CABS bank account.
When the Ministry sought to verify the delivery of goats, officials discovered that only 3,713 goats were available instead of the 32,500 claimed. The contract was subsequently canceled in August 2022.
Further investigations found that only 4,208 goats, worth US$331,445.25, were delivered, with the remaining US$7.38 million allegedly diverted for personal use by Mpofu and Chimombe.
The court was told that the Ministry was misled by the fraudulent documents, resulting in significant financial losses. The businessmen will return to court on Thursday.
