HARARE - A Rainbow Tourism Group (RTG) projects supervisor inflated quotations from a service provider and defrauded his employer of more than $7 000.
Makiel Pikire was facing fraud charges when he appeared before Harare Magistrate Ndaba Tsatsawana.
Prosecutor Desire Chidanire alleged that sometime in August last year RTG — represented by Clara Mapfunde — wanted to upgrade facilities in rooms on the 10th floor of the south wing of Rainbow Towers Hotel in Harare.
The Rainbow Towers’s luxury hotel and conference centre is a complex that was built 20 years ago and it was formerly known as the Sheraton Harare Hotel and International Conference Centre.
Pikire was tasked to look for quotations for the acquisition of new telephones and CCTV cameras.
He approached Ristar Zimbabwe Pvt (Ltd) which is a regular RTG customer and got a $6 302 quotation.
Pikire then influenced Ristar management to inflate the quotation to $14 032.
Ristar agreed but recorded Pikire with intentions of later reporting him to the police.
When Pikire took the inflated quotation to Mapfunde, she challenged the prices but Pikire maintained that Ristar was the only company that met the order.
Mapfunde then deposited $14 032 into Ristar’s account.
On September 9 last year, Ristar management approached Mapfunde and reported Pikire’s conduct.
They also showed her the video they had taken at their offices when Pikire engaged them in the fraudulent deal.
Mapfunde reported the matter to the police leading to Pikire’s arrest.
Pikire will be sentenced today.