BY NATHAN GUMA
NSSA chairman, Emmanuel Fundira was on Wednesday questioned by the police in connection with an extortion case involving former Rainbow Tourism Group (RTG) senior employee Paula January.
The development comes after an expose by The NewsHawks implicating Fundira, who is former chairman of African Sun Limited, and Paula January in a corporate raiding plot to knock down RTG’s market value ahead of a planned swoop on the company counter for shares at an undervalued price.
Although Fundira is not under investigation, The NewsHawks believes he was interviewed on the strength of audios in which Paula January is heard demanding payment from RTG executives or reinstatement to her former position. She is heard threatening to unleash the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc) on RTG executives, if they ignore her demands.
Paula January resigned from RTG in a huff after the hotelier launched an internal investigation into a suspicious child drowning incident at Kadoma Hotel and Conference Centre in 2019 where she was the general manager.
“The police are keen to interview Paula over the extortion case. They have been looking for her but have not located her, because she is in Malawi. Fundira was however questioned on Thursday,” a police source revealed.
“The matter is being investigated under CR number 483/2/25. It was reported at Harare Central Police Station, Kopje branch.”
The NesHawks understands police were keen to establish Fundira’s relationship with Paula January given that she appeared to be using information he provided, in her extortion bid.
In the audios, some of which The NewsHawks listened to, Paula January is heard threatening a lifestyle audit on RTG executives before warning them of an impending Zacc raid, well before it happened. On some occasions she would tell them when Zacc investigators are coming, and true to her word, they would come.
She even forwarded messages of her communication with Zacc officials, during their meeting with RTG board members, possibly in a bid to show her influence.
Acting on information provided by Paula January, Zacc descended on RTG Corporate Office on 13 September 2023, armed with a search and seizure warrant for fraud. The charge emanated from a five-year strategy retreat held in Dubai by the board and senior managers.
The anti-corruption body demanded cabinet authority for the trip as well as travel and payment records.
RTG however applied for an urgent stay of execution, which the High Court granted on 18 September 2023. RTG argued that as a listed company, officials do not require cabinet approval to travel. RTG won the court application as the judge dismissed the search and seizure warrant.
But Zacc returned on 28 February 2024 with another warrant alleging money laundering and illegal foreign currency dealings. The body sought payroll and employment records of six senior executives; Madziwanyika, Napoleon Kudakwashe Mtukwa, Tapiwa Mari, Tichaona Gabriel Hwingwiri, Laurence Dhemba, and Shupikai Marware, facing serious allegations.
Zacc is still pursuing RTG executives, despite the tourism group’s board investigating the matter and absolving its executives.
A meeting involving Nssa and RTG board members and executives last month also exonerated RTG executives, and recommended that the Zacc investigation be dropped.
The meeting took note of The NewsHawks’ story and concluded the Zacc raid was part of efforts to destabilise RTG.
Paula January mentions Fundira several times in the audio, indicating she was receiving sensitive RTG information, including salaries and allowances of executives from him.
As the chairperson of Nssa, Fundira has access to RTG information given that the pension authority is the major shareholder in the tourism group with a 91,6% equity stake in the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE)-listed company.
In a conversation dated 18 October 2023, Paula January states that she was aware that RTG executives had been given gratuities. In one audio she is heard saying “let me look for an email from Fundira; Fundira, Fundira…” before reading the exact amounts each RTG executive received.
Paula January also confesses Fundira had a personal dislike of RTG chief executive MacGerald Tendai Madziwanyika and shares details of a meeting the Nssa chairperson had with the RTG boss in Dubai.
The NewsHawks has established that the Dubai meeting indeed happened.
Fundira did not respond to questions sent via WhatsApp on Thursday. His mobile phone was not going through.
Nssa is planning to offload 56% of its shares, over time. Market watchers believe Fundira is part of the on-going plot to devalue RTG shares to ensure cheap stock cumulative buying.
