HARARE – The former acting CEO of the Zimbabwe National Road Administration (ZINARA), Moses Julius Juma, was on Tuesday jailed two years for criminal abuse of office.

Juma was initially sentenced to two-and-a-half years in jail before Harare magistrate relaxed six months of his sentence conditionally.

He handpicked a tax consultancy company for a contract worth over $500,000 back in 2014 without going to tender.

Davison Norupiri, ZINARA’s Finance Committee chairperson who had been charged with Juma, escaped jail after he was turned into a state witness.

In aggravation, prosecutor Chris Mutangadura said corruption was on the rise as such a custodial sentence was appropriate.

Harare magistrate Hosea Mujaya concurred with the state saying this would deter would be offenders.

Juma and Norupiri once made headlines back in 2016 after the former Vice President Phelekezela Mphoko ordered their release from police custody.

Mutangadura said sometime in 2014, ZINARA had a tax obligation with the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA) amounting to $15,418,133.

As a result, ZIMRA garnished $5,714,587 from ZINARA’s account leaving a balance of $9,703,546.

A report was made to the ZINARA board by the management for guidance to reduce tax obligations and the company tasked the finance committee chaired by Norupiri to engage a tax consultancy firm.

Three tax consultancy firms namely Misfort Tax Consultancy, Excel Tax Consultancy and Central Source Management Consultancy trading as Tax Management Services were chosen to make presentations for tax health check services.

On September 23 same year, the three made the presentations and the finance committee recommended Tax Management Services to the procurement committee.

Three days later the committee held a meeting with the full board and presented their decision.

Juma, who was the accounting officer, went on to engage Tax Management Services for the tax health checks and ZINARA was charged $17,250.

Without board approval, Juma went on to engage Tax Management Services for other tax advisory services without following proper tender procedures resulting in ZINARA making payment of $577,250 to the company.