Key Points
- Ledim Investments faces $400,000 laundering charges tied to irregular imports.
- Prosecutors allege the company bypassed Zimbabwe’s banking system.
- Zacc also charged a ZETDC accountant with obstructing justice.
A Harare company is in court over claims it moved almost $400,000 through shady imports from South Africa. The case has pulled in anti-corruption investigators who believe there could be more to the story.
Ledim International Investments, represented by 41-year-old Edson Kaponda, appeared before Magistrate Marewanazvo Gofa on Wednesday. The firm was given $200 bail while the probe continues.
Zimbabwe money laundering case under spotlight
Prosecutors said Ledim brought in naphthalene worth $368,695 between April and May. But the company was not registered with the Reserve Bank’s Exchange Control Division. There were also no bank records to show how the money was paid.
That gap triggered the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) to join the case. Officials are checking if the deal is tied to bigger scams in the energy sector.
In another case before the same magistrate, Kevin Zivurawa, an accountant at the Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company, was charged with blocking justice.
The court heard he leaked a Zacc request letter to a director of Esol Engineering, a company already under investigation.
Prosecutors said he had been feeding the firm inside information on tenders to help it win deals. He was released on $100 bail.
Both cases show how weak checks and insider deals keep haunting Zimbabwe’s energy sector, even as the country struggles with power shortages and a shaky economy.
