Clark and Beverly Makoni re-arrested for fraud

A HUSBAND and wife, who were recently arrested on charges of fraud after allegedly illegally changing the ownership of a company, have been re-arrested facing the same charges.Clark and Beverly Makoni were arraigned before Harare magistrate Dennis Mangosi before being remanded in custody pending the determination of their bail applications. The couple, who are the owners of an estate agency, Arkansas Properties, are being accused of forging documents relating to the ownership of Valley Lodge.The couple’s arrest comes only a month after they were arrested for the same charge. When they appeared before the court on Monday, the court heard that sometime in July 2017, Clive and Beverly Makoni were hired to manage Valley Lodge and would be paid a five percent monthly commission.However, when they commenced service, the couple allegedly decided to forge a CR14 form in which Clive appointed himself as Valley Lodge’s director and company secretary while Beverly was given the title of director.

“Armed with this forged CR14, the accused approached ZB Bank Mutare, where Valley Lodge’s account is. The accused misrepresented to the bank that they were now the new owners of Valley Lodge and wanted to change signatories.

“At the bank, accused one (Clive) acted as the managing director and accused two (Beverly) as the finance director. “The bank acted upon the misrepresentation and changed the account’s signatory card and the accused appended their signatures on the bank signatory card,” the court heard. “The accused then fraudulently took over the complainant’s company and signatories then gained access to the bank account.“The account was also responsible for receiving payments from Valley Lodge’s clients and other business transactions during the nature of business.“The accused employed four more employees on top of the already existing 12 employees. “The two, together with other selected employees, awarded themselves monthly salaries at an inflated black market rate of US$1 to $16 000 to defraud the complainant.”The State is further alleging that the forged CR14 forms showed that Valley Lodge’s directors had resigned on August 10 2017. The complainant, George Mashonganyika, is said to have grown suspicious, prompting him to carry out an internal audit. The court also heard that the couple laundered the allegedly stolen funds by using it to buy properties.