Slice Distributors former accountant, Tinashe Zengenene (30) was Wednesday dragged to court charged with fraud after he allegedly diverted US$45 146 which was meant for suppliers.

Zengenene appeared before Harare Magistrate Dennis Mangosi who granted him US$100 bail.

He is expected back in court on March 19 for his routine remand.

Prosecutors alleged that Zengenene through his conduct created a backlog of payments to suppliers dating back to 2022.

The complainant in the case is Paddington Mungate employed by Slice Distributors which operates popular fast food outlets known as Chicken Slice.

According to prosecutors, Mungate picked up the anomalies prompting him to institute auditing proceedings.

It is alleged that he engaged Zengenene since he was responsible for paying suppliers.

The court heard Zengenene asked for two weeks to clear the pending transactions.

"After the requested fortnight period, the accused cleared some of the transactions and failed to clear some which are still outstanding.

"On February 1 2024, the complainant then obtained supplier statements from 10 suppliers and noted that some of the money that the accused signed for had not been received by the supplier."

Following that discovery, a preliminary internal audit exercise which was carried out revealed that 10 companies were yet to receive their payments.

The matter was reported leading to his arrest.

Thomas Chanakira prosecuted.