Prosecutor General, Loice Matanda-Moyo has successfully secured forfeiture of bond notes amounting to ZW$1 436 500 and a car belonging to siblings, Samuel Tererayi Chiodze and his sister Ratidzai.
This comes after the State proved that the money was tainted.
High Court judge Justice Benjamin Chikowero has ordered the forfeiture of bond notes and Ratidzai's Honda Airwave which was being used by her brother Samuel at the time the money was recovered in 2021.
Both siblings denied that the money belonged to them but Ratidzai confirmed that the car was hers.
Sitting at the Harare High Court, Justice Chikowero said it was clear that the money was tainted because no one claimed it adding that they cannot separate the money and the car and as such both should be forfeited.
Chiodze, a controversial forex dealer and his sister were cited as the first and second respondents respectively in Matanda's Court application.
"The second respondent professed complete ignorance on how her motor vehicle came to be stashed with the money in question.
"She says her brother, the first respondent, would give a detailed explanation of this state of affairs.
"That explanation, if it had been placed before me, may have shed more light on how and why his sister's motor vehicle came to be parked at his parking bay stashed with a huge amount of money whose ownership nobody has claimed," said the judge in delivering his ruling.
According to Chikowero, that explanation, if the car had been taken to place, she would have provided keys or stated the whereabouts of her car keys when the money was recovered but she did not do so.
Chiodze did not oppose the application.
"He must be taken to be unopposed to the granting of the order sought. This circumstance compounds the second respondent's woes, " the judge noted.
He ruled, "At the end of the day, Ratidzai's innocent owner's defence fails. I agree with Mr Mutangadura (for the State) that all that Ratidzai has done is vainly endeavour to distance herself from possession of her car at the material time and from knowledge that it was being used as an instrumentality of the commission of some criminal offence.
"This is why she has failed to give flesh to her innocent owner's defense in the manner already explained in this judgment. Her explanation has left this Court with more questions than answers.
"In the result, it is ordered that the following property is tainted property and is forfeited to the state: the cash in the sum of ZW$1 436 500-00 White Honda Airwave registration number AFD1898."
Facts are that on September 24 2021 there was a police operation targeting illegal foreign currency traders.
A four-member team of police officers, who were part of the said operation, got certain information which led them to 41 Southlands Flats, Mazowe Street, Harare where Chiodze resided.
In his presence, they searched his residence for evidence suggestive of his involvement in the violation of exchange control laws and money laundering.
The search yielded neither evidence nor leads to that effect.
The team of investigators discovered the motor vehicle in question parked in bay number 12 at the flats.
The investigators were in the company of Chiodze and inside the vehicle were two sacks.
Since Chiodze had the motor vehicle, the investigators asked him to open the vehicle to enable them to ascertain what was contained in the sacks.
Chiodze refused to do so, claiming that he did not have the vehicle keys.
The motor vehicle was placed under police guard until 25 September 2021 when it was seized and towed to the Commercial Crime Division (Northern Region) premises.
Chiodze was still not cooperating with the investigators.
On 1 October 2021, the police engaged the services of a locksmith who opened the motor vehicle.
It was only then that the investigators discovered that the two sacks had bond notes which amounted to ZWL$1 436 500.
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The money, then equivalent to US$16 386.19 at the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe official exchange rate was immediately seized.
When the locksmith opened the motor vehicle leading to the investigators discovering the money in the sacks Chiodze was present.
He was warned and cautioned in connection with the case of contravening s 8(3) of the Money Laundering Act.
The allegations were that he was found in possession of the money in question stashed in the said motor vehicle. The money was suspected to be the proceeds of a crime.
It was established that the car belonged to his sister who was also warned and cautioned.
She however said she was not aware how the money ended up in her vehicle as she had given it to a motor mechanic for fixing.
She also said the instruction was that the mechanic would hand over the car to her brother after fixing it.
The mechanic denied ever communicating with the two or fixing the car.
The court was also not convinced by her defence.
