HARARE - A woman jailed for swindling Hwange Colliery Company (HCC) has approached the High Court seeking bail pending the hearing of her appeal.
Angeline Simende, 45, was initially jailed for five years, before four years were suspended on condition that she pays back $42 672 to HCC.
She was jointly charged with Sophie Badza, 29, who was sent to prison for 18 months.
Angeline was employed by the company as a clerk, while Badza was an accounting officer. They were all convicted on March 31, before their sentence was handed down on April 6. Angeline says she has since paid part of the restitution using her terminal benefits.
On her application for bail, Angeline claims that she was convicted based on circumstantial evidence, arguing she was professionally negligent but did not commit fraud.
Facts leading to the conviction were that between June 9, 2011 and January 14 last year, the pair defrauded the mining company by preparing out of pocket allowance documents in which Badza made payment requests for Comesa/Sadc certificates ranging between $2 000 and $6 000.
They made requisitions to be authorised by the finance section, before money transfers were made. The money was withdrawn and handed over to Badza for sharing.
It was later discovered that the finance section was authorising money transfers to a company different from the authorised distributors.
As a result of the misrepresentation, the company suffered a cumulative financial prejudice of $81 813, 70.
Nothing was recovered.
The bail hearing application has been deferred to April 25.