HARARE –NetOne chief executive officer Raphael Mushanawani was arrested on Monday over allegations of fraud involving more than US$1.2 million, the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) said.
The case stems from the state-owned mobile operator’s decision in 2022 to engage Farevic Systems to replace its SAGE 1000 system with a new Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) platform at a contract price of US$3.5 million.
While the project was still underway, Mushanawani allegedly acted in common purpose with NetOne’s finance executive Christopher Muchechemera to secretly contract Lunartech Solutions for an upgrade of the same SAGE 1000 system at a cost of US$257,600.
Investigators say Mushanawani went on to sign two more addendums with Lunartech, inflating the cost of upgrading a system that was already earmarked for replacement to more than US$1.2 million.
ZACC further alleges that Mushanawani entered into another unapproved deal with Diztech, paying US$79,467 for consultancy and training services which were already covered under the Farevic Systems contract.
The transactions were allegedly carried out without the knowledge or approval of NetOne’s executive committee and board.
Mushanawani is expected to appear before the Harare Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday. – ZimLive
