Zimbabwe tax chief suspended over graft scandal

The chief of Zimbabwe's revenue collection agency along with five other senior executives have been suspended after being implicated in a vehicle importation scam.

The Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA) board sent Commissioner-General Gershem Pasi and five other executive managers on paid leave last week to facilitate smooth investigations into the matter, ZIMRA board chairperson Willia Bonyongwe said.

"The ZIMRA Board has become aware that questions have been raised and indeed criminal proceedings instituted pertaining to the importation of vehicles by some Zimra employees," Bonyongwe said.

Investigations will look at how loans were extended to people and how the money was transferred to the car dealers, among others, Bonyongwe said.

"It is important that all employees who are tasked to carry out this important function (revenue collection) themselves be beyond reproach," she added.

The suspensions come at a time when ZIMRA has been tainted by corruption allegations among its employees.

It has been speculated that the revenue collection agency has lost millions of dollars to a syndicate of dealers who process counterfeit undervalued import documents to smuggle vehicles and other products into the country.

Some senior ZIMRA officials allegedly use bogus clearing agents to import personal vehicles.

Last week, two Harare men appeared in court facing allegations of processing import documents to smuggle in six vehicles through the Beitbridge Border Post, prejudicing the State of 157, 500 U.S. dollars.

Many Zimbabweans are importing cars from Japan, Europe and South Africa due to their affordability compared to locally manufactured cars. Enditem