A UK based Zimbabwean couple has been given a 4 years prison sentence per person over £300 000 fraud.
The two named as Memory Chirwa(33) and her boyfriend Raymond Makudza(38), were each jailed for four years after being found guilty of fraud and money laundering by a Leeds Court.
They were arrested following a 2-and-a-half-year investigation by North Yorkshire Police’s Serious Crime Team found that Chirwa and Makudza’s criminal activity led them to defrauding businesses across the UK out of a total of £300,000.
The pair targeted charities as well as commercial businesses with a series of mandate fraud. Detective Inspector Steve Menzies of the North Yorkshire Police’s Serious Crime Team said: “I am pleased with today’s result in court. This was an extremely complex and lengthy investigation into serious fraud and money laundering which saw business and charities suffer significant financial loss at the hand of these fraudsters.
“Memory Chirwa and her partner Raymond Makudza led a ‘champagne lifestyle’ around Harrogate without the legitimate means to do so. “I am satisfied they have been brought to justice and I praise my colleagues in the Serious Crime Team and our Financial Investigation Department”, he said.
