Belgian national nabbed for externalization

Harare (New Ziana) – A Belgian national, Daleyot Erez has been arrested facing charges of externalizing more than US$180 000, the Zimbabwe Anti- Corruption Commission (ZACC) has said.

In a statement, ZACC spokesperson, John Makamure said; “Sometime in December 2021, Erez hatched a plan to prejudice the Government of Zimbabwe thousands of United States dollars through his company Raiz El-Nickel Processing.

“To achieve his plan, Erez allegedly exported 240 tonnes of copper/nickel alloy valued at USD180 000.00 to Tera Africa, a South African Company, at undervalued prices.”

Makamure added; “The money was supposed to be paid to the Raiz-El Nickel Processing (Pvt) Ltd Ecobank account in Zimbabwe but instead, Erez bypassed this to avoid paying tax by instructing Tera Africa to pay the export proceeds to his South African registered company, Knight Corp, through South African bank, First National Bank (FNB).”

Investigations established that since December 2021, the accused’s foreign currency earnings were not received by Ecobank Zimbabwe Limited depriving the country thousands of dollars in undeclared incomes and loss of revenue through externalization.

It was also established Erez‘s company allegedly corruptly posted huge losses to the Government by declaring minimal taxable profits and not acquitting CDI Forms within 90 days in violation of the Exchange Control Regulations.

The Reserve Bank Exchange Control Regulations require all foreign currency earnings to be received within 90 days or within an approved extension period by the Exchange Control.

Non-acquittal of CDI forms constitutes an offence in terms of Section 5(1) of the Exchange Control Act.

Erez was remanded in custody by a Kwekwe Magistrate to 20 April for bail hearing.

New Ziana