Judgment No. 23/18 Civil Appeal No. SC 145/15 2 February 2010, the appellant was advised by the Minister of the Board’s approval of the retrenchment exercise in relation to 94 employees, including the 74, in the following terms: “Re: Retrenchment of [the names of the staff members]. The retrenchment Board acknowledges receipt of correspondence referring to the Works/Employment Council Agreement in Form LRR2. Please proceed as per agreement.” (My underlining) [11] It is evident that the appellant followed the retrenchment procedure set out in the Labour Act right down to the use of the forms. The approvals were granted by the Board in 2010. In the light of the above, the conclusion reached by the learned Judge that the staff reduction exercise constituted a retrenchment in terms of the Act was inescapable. I therefore agree with Mr Magwaliba that the commitments made by the appellant to the employees were conditional upon the approval of the Minister of Labour and Social Services and that since the approvals were only granted in 2010, the expenditure could not be deducted in the tax year ending 2009 but was properly deducted in the tax year 2010. Whether the appellant was correctly held to have earned interest in respect of offshore loans made to various customers in each of the three years of the amended assessments. [12] On 6 October 2009, the appellant (sometimes referred to herein as “the Bank”) obtained authority from the External Loans Co-ordination Committee of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (“ELCC”) to borrow offshore funds on behalf of its clients. The letter of approval read, in part: “Re: Standard Chartered Bank Pre and Post Shipment Finance Facility USD100Million. Please be advised that your application for the approval of a pre and post shipment finance facility to the tune of USD100 million has been approved by the External Loans Co - ordination Committee (ELCC)…” 5