Two Zimbabwean businessmen caught a combined 27 years behind bars after running a massive government scam that grabbed over seven million bucks meant for poor rural families. Mike Chimombe and Moses Mpofu set up a fake company called Blackdeck Livestock to score a contract that promised goats to vulnerable households through some presidential scheme. They walked off with the cash advance but only delivered like 4,208 goats out of the 85,000 they were supposed to supply, which left communities hanging while the money got laundered through black market currency trades.
Justice Pisirayi Kwenda handed down the sentences after calling the whole operation premeditated and calculated. Prosecutors are appealing because they wanted a harder time, while the defense team plans to hit up the Supreme Court to challenge everything. The judge said stealing public funds earmarked for orphans and elderly people crossed a line that demanded serious consequences.
Justice Pisirayi Kwenda handed down the sentences after calling the whole operation premeditated and calculated. Prosecutors are appealing because they wanted a harder time, while the defense team plans to hit up the Supreme Court to challenge everything. The judge said stealing public funds earmarked for orphans and elderly people crossed a line that demanded serious consequences.
