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National Roads Authority (NRA) has uncovered a racket through which some fraudsters have been collecting large sums of money from cross border truckers at Mwanza border post in the name of the Authority.
NRA spokesperson Portia Kajanga said some of the fraudsters were arrested a few days ago and one of them, Rashid Malekano, was found guilty by Blantyre magistrate’s court.
The court found him guilty of fraudulently duplicating MRA receipt books and collecting transit fees by false pretence. Malekano is going to serve in prison for one and a half years.
His accomplices Mavuto Kadammanja from Dowa, George Brasho from Ntcheu and James Mchere from Blantyre are out of police cell on bail awaiting their court case on similar charges.
Truckers entering the country are expected to pay NRA US$110 (about K12,000) transit fees each and it is not known for how long the fraudsters have been issuing the counterfeit receipts.
“Police and NRA are yet to establish for how long this has been going on so as to calculate how much revenue may have been lost through these fraudulent acts,” Kajanga said Wednesday, adding that toll fee inspectors stationed at Chingeni Weighbridge Station in Balaka uncovered the racket.
“The police are expected to parade in court some Mozambican truck drivers from Beira who were issued the fake transit fee receipts,” she said.
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