Midlands Bureau
THE case of a Lebanese national who allegedly misappropriated more than $265,000 in a mining deal involving his Russian business partner has been brought back to the Gweru courts where the alleged crime was committed.
Taleb Mohamad, 51, of Shamrock Park, Gweru, who is one of the co-directors of Aquirium Trading Private Limited, appeared before local magistrate Judith Taruvinga on Wednesday for remand.

The case of Mohamad who is facing charges of theft of trust property, was being handled by the Harare courts prior to the decision to bring the matter back to Gweru where most of the witnesses reside.

He is out on $500 bail and will be back in court on October 10 for continuation of trial.

Mohamad was ordered to surrender his passport to the clerk of court in Harare as part of his bail conditions.

He was also ordered not to interfere with state witnesses and to report to the Criminal Investigation Department in Gweru once every Friday.

Mohamad is being represented by Alec Muchadehama of Mbidzo, Muchadehama and Makoni. The accused has 12 percent shareholding in Aquirium Trading Private Limited while the complainant, Tamira Overseas SA has a 48 percent stake.

Tamira Overseas Pvt Ltd is represented by Heena Jayant Joshi who also has a three percent stake in Aquirium Trading Pvt Ltd.

For the state, Hellen Khosa, said sometime in April 2012, a representative of the complainant, Tamira Overseas SA, met Nicolay Verenko, a Russian national and owner of the company.  The two had discussions centred on mining.

Khosa said Verenko also engaged Mohamad on the same subject with intentions to invest in the mining industry.  She said in July of the same year, Joshi was directed by Verenko to meet accused person and verify the existence of the mining claims in Gweru.

The court heard that Joshi engaged a metallurgist, Magofa Gwizo, to assess the mining claims and was happy with his findings.  Khosa said on September 2, 2012, Verenko flew into the country to discuss the way forward with Mohamad.  She said the parties held a meeting at a lodge in Harare and entered into a joint venture agreement. Verenko offered to fund the mining operations with a loan of $400,000 under an agreement code named MALAYA.

Tamara Overseas SA released the loan over a period of three months from October 2012 to December 2012.

Khosa said in January of 2013, Tamira Overseas SA offered to buy out Mohamad and his co-director Sandra van Rooyen but they failed to agree.

She said, instead, they agreed on a shareholding structure moulded as follows:
Tamira Overseas SA 48 percent, True Brethren three percent, Sandra van Rooyen 37 percent and Mohamad, 12 percent.  Following the new structure, Tamira Overseas SA paid off all liabilities including the outstanding Kingdom Bank loan of $619,390.

Khosa said between April 2013 and June 2014, Tamira Overseas SA injected a total of $2,7 million in Aquirium Trading Private Limited’s African Banking Corporation account number 10008873902025.  She said the accused has been the sole signatory to the Aquirium Trading Private Limited Bank account.

During the above mentioned period, Mohamad made several cash withdrawals from the account.

Mohamad had sole responsibility on the cash withdrawals including handling cash payments and handing over invoices to the accounts department after the purchases and payments.

Khosa said Mohamad made several RTGs transfers from Aquirium Trading Pvt Ltd bank account to various beneficiaries.

She said, however, Verenko became suspicious on the manner the business was being run and the non-availability of share transfer certificates and he proposed an internal audit.

The audit was finally conducted by an accountant, Christine Murisa, covering the period extending from April 1, 2013 to December 31, 2013.

Khosa said the audit concluded that the accused misappropriated a total of $265,958 and nothing was recovered.

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