Court Reporter
TWO FBC Bank Limited workers who stole more than $4 000 from a pensioner’s account were yesterday each jailed for 18 months.

Giveus Clement (35), of House Number 3592 Magwegwe North and Charlotte Makumbe (26), of Number 102 Morein Court, George Silundika and 13th Avenue were convicted on their own pleas of guilty to fraud by Bulawayo magistrate Mrs Learnmore Mapiye.

Not suspending a portion of their sentences, the magistrate said their blameworthiness was very high and said they had brought the name of the bank into disrepute.

The court found that they hatched a plan to steal the money and breached the trust that had been bestowed on them.

Mr Malvern Nzombe, for the State, told the court that Clement was employed as a messenger-cum-driver by the bank and his duties included transporting staff and mail while Makumbe was employed as a back office clerk. Her duties included processing transfers, cheque clearance, payment of bills and filing.
On 4 August this year, the pair was at work when they saw that account number 052503029111 in respect of Mr Paul Ephraim Nkomo, who last made some withdrawals when the Zimbabwe dollar was still in use,  was continuously receiving his monthly deposits from 2009.

The pair connived to withdraw the client’s money.

Clement completed an application form for an FBC ATM card and allegedly endorsed Mr Nkomo’s particulars and forged his signature.

He forwarded the application form to Makumbe, who processed it and forwarded it for card production.

The card came out on 20 August and it is the State case that the pair acting in connivance retrieved the PIN number and Makumbe took possession of the ATM card.

Between 20 and 26 August, the pair withdrew $4 290, which they shared.

Their actions were monitored and recorded on the FBC Bank Limited CCTV.
The bank discovered the offence when Mr Nkomo went to the bank to withdraw his pension money.