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A Zimbabwe National Road Administration (ZINARA) officer has been jailed five years following conviction on 258 counts of criminal abuse of office.
Patricia Chikowere (47) was arrested in 2018 and charged with corruptly interfering with the administration’s vehicle registry system.
Chikowere will however serve three years effective after two years of her sentence were set aside on condition of good behaviour.
She was convicted after a full trial. Chikowere was employed at ZINARA’s Harare Exhibition Park branch as a licensing officer.
Prosecutors proved she was in a habit of altering expiry dates and arrears of motor vehicles, prejudicing ZINARA of US$168 458.
The court also heard that on 258 separate occasions, Chikowere would use her position as a licensing officer and enter an error correction facility on the licensing system where she would alter licensing dates.
“She was fraudulently over-riding arrears and penalties thereby misleading other ZINARA licensing officers to act on the incorrect information on the system to license the said vehicles,” said prosecutors.
The offense was discovered in November 2018 after ZINARA realised that certain vehicles had their arrears and penalties cleared without supporting documents.
The administration then launched an investigation into the discrepancies leading to her arrest.