Directors Of Hilmax Engineering Released On Bail After Defrauding ZIMRA Of R10 Million

The directors of Hilmax Engineering, detained on suspicion of stealing ZAR 10.7 million from the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA) through a foreign scheme, appeared in court on Wednesday to face fraud charges.

The two are the operations director, Rugare Murwira (59), and the finance director, Patrick Musavaya (57).

They are facing seven counts of fraud and violating the Exchange Control Act.

The two were not asked to plead when they appeared before Magistrate Tilda Mazhande and will be back in court in two weeks for their routine remand.

The two individuals were taken into custody on suspicion of committing a multi-million rand fraud scheme involving counterfeit import documents, causing harm to the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA) amounting to ZAR 10,755,880.

It is the State’s case that “they allegedly submitted falsified Bills of Entry to Stanbic Bank to acquire foreign currency for purported imports from South African firms, which never materialised. ”

The court heard between January 2021 and March 2022, Hilmax Engineering (Pvt) Ltd applied for over ZAR 10.7 million through the Stanbic Bank, claiming to import goods.

They allegedly used or backdated Bills of Entry assigned to other companies, to justify payments.

An investigation into the foreign currency acquittals revealed that no goods were imported and the two directors allegedly fabricated release orders to conceal the scheme.