Amid increasing incidents of scams targeted at Zimbabwe's telecommunications and mobile money sectors, another court case has received attention with Telecel Zimbabwe receiving the nod for the private prosecution of former director, Jane Mutasa, for allegedly swindling the company out of $1.7 million in airtime vouchers.

Executives and mobile money agents in the Southern African country's mobile sector have confirmed that scams involving mobile money and airtime vouchers are on the increase.

They said fraudsters are using stolen and lost identity cards to register sim cards which are then used to withdraw money from mobile money platforms. "They cash-in money using fake notes and instantly cash it out using fake accounts created by stolen identity cards," said Moses Nyangoni, who works at a mobile money kiosk in Harare.

Cases involving employees who have defrauded mobile companies are being reported every month.

Telecel Zimbabwe has now received the nod to privately prosecute Mutasa.

Private prosecution is defined by Wikipedia as a "criminal proceeding initiated by an individual or private organisation instead of by a public prosecutor who represents the state".

The Zimbabwean National Prosecuting Authority had declined to prosecute Mutasa and also declined to issue authority for the complainant in the case to pursue private prosecution.

The Constitutional Court in Zimbabwe sentenced prosecutor general, Johannes Tomana, to a 30-day jail sentence for defying a High Court order to issue a private prosecution certificate for the issue and two others.

However, on Thursday, the Prosecutor General's office did comply with the directive.

Telecel Zimbabwe executives could not immediately be reached for comment on the issue, but lawyers for the telco were quoted by state media on Friday as saying it was up to the company to pursue the case or not.

"I confirm that we have received the certificate. It is now up to my client as to what they will do with it," said Isaiah Mureriwa, legal representative for Telecel Zimbabwe.