FORMER Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor Gideon Gono has exposed his former employees Clarks and Beverly Makoni, who are accused of fraudulently seizing control of his company Value Lodge in Manicaland province, saying the accused person is facing the same allegations on his other properties in Chivhu.
Gono told magistrate Stanford Mambanje that he was introduced to the couple in 2016 by his children, who persuaded him to employ them as his family real estate project.
“I entrusted them to manage a portfolio of over 15 properties in Chivhu and in 2017, I expanded the trust so they could manage our Mutare portfolio that included Valley Lodge,” he said.
“The same challenges that occurred in Chivhu are the same challenges we are facing in Mutare and we are in the process of seeking to rectify the fraudulent activities done by the accused persons.”
Gono said Makoni, through a fraudulent court process, blocked them entry to Valley Lodge and his workers were being arrested day and night by police officers on the influence of the former employee.
“We later discovered that the police and the community were deceived by Makoni and they did not know that they have a fraudulently acquired order,” Gono said.
He told court that he is the owner of Galwex Investments, the holding company owning all issued shares in both Lizack Holdings and Valley Lodge, having acquired the shares from Costick Investments represented by Ayoob Omar.
He told the court that the businesses were sold by Costick to Galwex, one of his companies, but the transfer was yet to take place because he was yet to finish purchasing the property.
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Gono said the Makonis’ main mandate was to collect rentals from the tenants and other occupancy-related income, deduct an agreed commission and paid expenses as agreed prior, with him saying the difference was to be remitted to him on a monthly basis.
“The accused persons went for several months without remitting any income to me and this prompted me to carry out some investigations in a bid to find out what was happening to my property Valley Lodge (Pvt) Ltd.
“Through my members of staff, namely George Mashonganyika, Lindiwe Sabeka and Michelle Nongogo, I learnt that the CR14 of Valley Lodge (Pvt) Ltd and the signatories to ZB Bank had been corruptly changed by the accused persons without my knowledge as the sole shareholder of the company or that of the directors namely, Ayoob Omar and Mohamed Hussein Omar,” he said.
“The boards of Lizack and Valley Lodge have not sat or resolved that there be a change to the directorship of the companies since December 10, 2008 as appears on the current and legit Valley Lodge CR14.
“Any suggestion of ownership, lease or occupation by anyone other than nominees duly appointed by and representing myself is false and fraudulent and also an affidavit from Omar, whom I bought the lodge from, confirms this position.”
Gono said he suffered actual prejudice of ZWL$137 296 500 through unauthorised bank withdrawals by the accused persons purportedly as salaries for themselves and their Ark Properties employees and nothing was recovered, except apologies from both Clark and Beverly, “which apologies do not wash away the fraud committed by these two”.
He testified that the verbal agreement was signed by both accused persons, adding: “They would meet with my family. In some instances, it would be Clark Makoni. We formed a group on WhatsApp, the main person was accused one.”
Gono said the prejudice in place is around US$100 000 and since he is retired, he depends on these investments.
He said the accused persons’ interference with this business stressed him.
The former Reserve Bank boss said in January 2024, Makoni apologised to him and they drafted a proposal which outlined that he would pay back US$50 000.
He said Clark brought his legal counsel, while he, Gono, was represented by two legal firms when the draft proposal was done, saying they even took photos after smoking peace pipe.
Gono said he was surprised after Beverly refused to sign the proposal and that led to the suit.
Omar, the former owner of the property, also testified against the Makonis saying they sold the company to Gono and not the couple.
Magistrate Stanford Mambanje postponed the matter to July 11 and investigating officer Eric Chacha, from the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission, is next to testify.
The State alleges that the Makonis orchestrated a sophisticated scheme, beginning with the forgery of a CR14 form.
This document, central to the prosecution’s argument, purportedly appointed Clark as director and company secretary of Valley Lodge, with Beverly designated as his deputy.
Further accusations include the couple’s alleged misrepresentation to the bank, where they falsely claimed to be new shareholders in a bid to change signatories to Valley Lodge’s bank accounts.
The prosecution firmly contends that through these fraudulent acts, the Makonis illicitly took over the complainant’s company, gained unauthorised access to its bank accounts, and ultimately embezzled the staggering ZWL$172 million.
