Colourful social media character and businessman Genius Kadungure was late Tuesday afternoon granted bail by the High Court.
He was released on $1000 bail and will surrender title deeds of his Borrowdale home as part of the bail conditions.
Harare High Court judge Justice Tawanda Chitapi heard the case over the weekend when his lawyer Jonathan Samukange appealed the decision at the High Court
Harare Magistrate Bianca Makwande had initially denied his bail application arguing that granting him bail would not be in the interest of justice as he is facing a number of serious cases of fraud.
The State argues that between February 2009 and May 2016, Kadungure, with the alleged intention of evading paying Value Added Tax, made a misrepresentation to Zimra that he had made total sales of $2 777 678 inclusive, instead of the actual $9 092 951.
The alleged offence came to light when Zimra conducted an investigation into the activities of Piko Trading.
It is further alleged that in 2015, Zimra conducted lifestyle audits of socialites after observing their excessive expenditure, which was not matching their tax declarations.
Zimra officials interviewed Ginimbi on March 2, 2016, during which he indicated that he owns a residential property in Domboshawa valued at $200 000, a Rolls-Royce motor vehicle valued at R4 million, a Bentley valued at $500 000, a Range Rover valued at R1,1 million, a Mercedes Benz valued at R1m.
Kadungure also advised Zimra that he owns furniture worth several thousands of dollars in Domboshawa, but failed to prove the source of his income.
It is also alleged that investigations by Zimra revealed that between January 2010 and December 2015, Kadungure did not declare income amounting to over $9 million from sales realised out of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and $1 191 713 being the value of the properties.
As a result, an income tax of $2 134 549 and $306 866 were raised in terms of Section 6 of the Income Tax Act, which he was supposed to pay to Zimra.
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