prejudicing the financial institution of US$30 million, a senior bank
official has said.
Besides the theft, the bank claimed that the financial institution's central
computer system at its Anchor House headquarters in Harare was tampered
with.
The commercial bank was placed under curatorship by the Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe for 18 months since October 2006. It was subsequently deregistered
after the curatorship, a decision the bank management successfully
challenged in the Administrative Court last year. Finance minister Tendai
Biti recently upheld the decision of the court and the bank is expected to
open its door to the public in October.
In a voluminous letter of complaint to Police Commissioner-General Augustine
Chihuri dated May 28 in possession of the Zimbabwe Independent, Time Bank of
Zimbabwe Ltd founder and MD Christopher Takura Tande accused the police of
dragging their feet on the two cases involving the theft and break-ins at
the bank.
The letter was copied to senior police officers, the Attorney-General's
Office, the Anti-Corruption Commission and the Zimbabwe Human Rights
Commission.
Tande said key data, including sealed envelopes containing security codes
and a register of the password holders, was stolen during the break-ins
while the suspected perpetrators have not been brought to justice.
"The handover/takeover (between RBZ and Time Bank) report revealed that
there were major break-ins into the locked premises of Time Bank," wrote
Tande. "Cases of theft of information and evidence of fraud, among other
things were uncovered. It was further discovered that some important keys
for Time Bank premises were missing, while some keys which were supposed to
be in the custody of RBZ were found inside the premises of Time Bank.
Various footmarks were discovered and noted."
Tande added that passwords to the bank's central computer system, sealed
envelopes containing security codes, and the register of the password
holders were also missing.
Ironically, Tande alleged that while police had turned a blind eye to the
break-ins and theft, counter charges by suspects in the cases were allegedly
being treated with "great zeal".
He wrote: "The pattern which is emerging is that whenever Time Bank makes a
report to the police, it is not actioned, but when someone makes a report
against Time Bank, its directors and shareholders, the police are quick to
act, arrest or detain us. As a result we are left with no option except to
lodge this complaint.
"We do not wish to stop the police from investigating us but we are
requesting for fairness in such investigations. In the interest of justice,
the cases against us should be investigated by different policemen other
than Superintendent Marodza, Detective Assistant Inspector Nyoni and
Detective Assistant Inspector Taruvinga of the Serious Fraud Section. Not
only should justice be done, it must be seen to be done."
He also alleged that keys that were supposed to be in the custody of the
former curator Tinashe Rwodzi of Pricewaterhouse Coppers and the RBZ had
mysteriously appeared in the bank after the alleged break-ins.
"The former curator said he had all the keys to Time Bank premises during
the period of curatorship from 27 October 2004 to June 2006, and thereafter
he handed over all such keys to certain officials of the RBZ for custody and
safe keeping," wrote Tande. "Time Bank officials have not accessed their
offices, since 27 October 2004. The curator said he never entered after the
curatorship on 30 June 2006. The RBZ officials also allege that they did not
access Time Bank after the end of curatorship on 30 June 2006. The question
is who left the keys inside the premises of Time Bank and where are the keys
and our computer passwords. What was the motive of breaking into the Bank?"
Tande suspected that former ZBC boss Onias Gumbo and unnamed RBZ officials
could be behind the theft of crucial data that could prejudice and retard
the transfer of the bank's assets. He said the bank was investigating Gumbo
for allegedly planning to dispossess it, its shareholders and directors of
their properties through "fictitious claims and malicious allegations".
"He (Gumbo) is either working with some officials of RBZ or he is
misrepresenting them by name-dropping in order to further his fraudulent
claims," Tande alleged.
Tande and his business associates are embroiled in a bitter ownership
wrangle over companies with Gumbo. Accusations and counter-accusations
between Tande and his business associates on one hand and Gumbo on the other
have been reported to the police.
Gumbo is currently appearing in court on a fraud charge involving ownership
of Unitime –– a company owned 50% by a close business associate of Tande ––
Antony Parehwa.
Tande told Chihuri that following litigation by Takta Investment (a company
he owns) against Gumbo's companies two years ago, the latter, through an
opposing affidavit, "revealed information which implicated him and other
people" in the break-ins at the bank.
Takta then sued Assetfin –– a company linked to Gumbo –– in order to stop it
from interfering with its housing development project.
However, Gumbo, according to the letter to Chihuri, "accessed confidential"
RBZ-compiled reports from an "undisclosed source" and "fabricated them" to
put a claim on the bank's assets. Tande suspects that the transfer of the
bank's assets back to the bank almost hit a snag when the RBZ said the
exercise should be "symbolic without full accountability" contrary to Time
Bank's recommendation for a normal check-listed handover-takeover.
The central bank, Rwodzi and the bank officials, according to the letter,
eventually agreed on a normal handover, which was finalised on June 22.
"The handover/takeover report also revealed that there were no audited
financial statements prepared during the period of curatorship as required
by law, and which are also necessary to verify and expose any malicious
allegations against the bank and its directors," Tande said. "Fortunately,
Time Bank was audited before curatorship and can verify financial
transactions of the pre-curatorship period."
On Monday, Tande told Harare magistrate Olivia Chiriga during the fraud
trial of Gumbo that he was neither a brother in law nor his relative. He
also said Gumbo was not a director of the bank.
Instead, Tande said, Gumbo was a net borrower from the bank who relied on
loans from the financial institution to bankroll his projects.
The court went into stitches when defence lawyer Wilson Manase insisted that
Gumbo was related to Tande who reacted by saying: "I have chosen to use
English in this court, and what you are saying about the meaning of
brother-in-law is different from that in the Oxford dictionary. According to
that dictionary, Gumbo is not my brother in law."
Tande said Section 35 of the Banking Act "protects bankers from abusive
borrowers like Gumbo, from misleading the Reserve Bank into thinking that
the loans to Gumbo's companies are insider loans which should be deducted
from the share capital of the bank."
Tande told the court that his company bought all the shares in Unitime
Investments (Pvt) Ltd from Pamela Matingo and Gumbo's co-accused Kwaziso
Bhosha and sold them to Parehwa. The banker denied ever being a joint
shareholder with Gumbo in Unitime.
He also testified on the unlawful entry into Time Bank and theft of vital
information.
Bernard Mpofu
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