Former deputy minister Mukupe and three others convicted of fuel smuggling
Harare- FORMER Deputy Minister of Finance and Economic Development Terence Mukupe and three accomplices have been convicted of smuggling more than 138 000 litres of diesel,Express Mail Zim can report.
The Wall Street trained banker’s accomplices are Sam Kapisoriso, Joseph Taderera and Leonard Mudzuto.
The four were remanded in custody and sentence will be handed down Thursday.
The alleged offence occured in 2017.
Divorced from information obtained from court record, and acting on privileged information, Express Mail Zim understands that Mukupe was part of a cartel mostly made up of his neighbourhood mates from Mufakose.
The cartel used to import fuel from Mozambique via Forbes border post under the guise that it was destined for the DRC.
In that vein, they would not be charged for excise duty since the bill of laden entered would reflect that it’s in transit and they would only pay a deposit.
“What happens is this deposit will be refunded after the fuel has reached the purported country of destination but these guys would not deliver across the border but offloaded it in Zimbabwe and they would go in to claim the refund,” said our source who is/was close to the goings on.
Express Mail Zim understands that the fuel was then offloaded at Chikwanha shopping centre in the dormitory town of Chitungwiza and replaced with water to circumvent detection of the rot at the weigh bridge at Chirundu border post.
Zimra intercepted the well calculated evasion through tip offs from rivals and their electronic cargo tracking system.
Mukupe’s conviction becomes the second high profile conviction in a fortnight after Henrietta Rushwaya and it sends a chilling signal on the no-nosense stance by new Prosecutor General Loice Matanda-Moyo.
Mukupe yields a lot of power having been a former and only son-in-law to the late businessman and politician Oliver Chidawu who enjoyed a cordial relationship with President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
He was married to his daughter Dadirai and was considered a ‘son’, according to sources.
He (Mukupe) is also one of the strategists behind the beleaguered Essar deal during his stint as chief executive of Renaissance Capital which was based in Newlands.
At the time of his conviction , he operated a thriving trucking business and a popular entertainment joint in Harare East near the Women University of Africa- where the who and who’s in Harare- would frequent nd spent money and threw it like it’s confetti.
