Thelma Wandayi
SHURUGWI police recently arrested two Harare men posturing as Reserve Rank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) officials and have been going around swindling businesses for distorting forex exchange rate.
The two were arrested following an alert by a possible victim who informed the police of the impersonators’ strange visit to his shop.
Upon arrest, the two Maxwell Madiwaya (46) of Kuwadzana 6 Harare and Mike Chidziyo (42) of number 229 Hopley Harare were found with some RBZ tags bearing their names and a fake RBZ fines books in their fancy Mazda BT 50 twin cab.
The two, who the police said their fake receipt books show, had swindled hundreds of businesses in several towns and cities of varying amounts, had a set of identical suits and neck ties which they were using as uniforms.
“Searches were done on their persons (and)…three ZAAC identification cards, one RBZ identification card, one CIO identification card, a fake RBZ receipt book, okapi knife, a driver’s license in the names of another person, an ultra-security key and chain were recovered,” reads a press release from the Midlands Police Provincial Community Relations and Liaison Office.
“It was discovered during preliminary investigations that they had previously duped JARAN Supermarkets of Gweru of USD900-00 using the same method,” the statement further reads.
The criminals supposedly took advantage of the slow implementation to curb uneven exchange rates where the central bank is trying to enforce retailers to use official bank rates within their trade.
