A Harare businessman, Steven John Bass, was sentenced to three years in prison after being found guilty of defrauding a woman of $200,000 in a failed import deal from South Africa.
Initially sentenced to eight years, the court suspended two years on good behavior and set aside three years on the condition that Bass restitutes $160,000 by August 2025.
Bass had approached the complainant in December 2021 with a proposal to import goods for resale, claiming he had orders and needed funding.
The woman invested the amount, but Bass became evasive, leading to her discovery of the fraud and his subsequent arrest.
