Chinese national Li Song, who was a co-director of Eagle
Italian Leather Company, allegedly cooked documents for the purpose of buying
foreign currency from the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) before transferring
the money into an offshore Mauritius bank account for CureChem Company.
Eagle Italian Leather company supplies leather products to
the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP), Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) and the
Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services (ZPCS).
The applicant, Francesco Marconati, cited officer in
charge, Commercial Crimes Division, Detective Assistant Inspector Rungano
Paduze, Detective Sergeant Tadious Shenjere, Matanga and Kazembe as the
respondents respectively in his High Court application.
Marconati is the director of Eagle Italian Leather Company
with 51% shareholding and is being represented by Obey Shava of Shava Law
Chambers.
According to Marconati, sometime in August 2021, Song
hatched a plan to steal from the company and generated a profoma invoice number
ZIMBP2119 dated August 20, 2021.
The profoma invoice was purportedly raised by Curechem
Holdings Limited domiciled at Number 201/2A, 2nd Floor, 1 Cybercity, Ebene,
Mauritius.
The invoice was quoting 60 tonnes of hydrate lime at the
price of US$13 800 and 60 tonnes sodium cyanide for US$144 000 for Strengthened
Investments Private Limited.
Armed with the invoice, Song allegedly approached Ecobank
Zimbabwe's Borrowdale branch, Harare and applied for foreign currency through
the RBZ Foreign Exchange Auction System.
On September 6, 2021, Song allegedly made a transfer of $6
538 625 from Marconati's Ecobank local currency account number 5712000009793
for the purchase of foreign currency at RBZ.
On March 28, 2022, the complainant's foreign currency
account number 5783600044545 was credited with US$157 275.15 from the RBZ
Foreign Exchange Auction System.
On April 12, 2022, the accused transferred US$78 266.06 and
US$77 461.65 on April 13, 2022 into
Curechem Holdings Limited’s bank account in Mauritius.
Marconati alleges that this was in violation of the
country’s laws.
After the externalisation of funds was discovered, on
October 7, 2021, the company passed a resolution to remove Song as one of the
directors and the matter was reported to the police.
Marconati said preliminary investigations were done by
Bulawayo Police before the matter was referred to CCD Harare.
According to Marconatti, the case was being handled by
Detective Sergeant Shenjere.
“A warrant of search and seizure was issued to Detective
Sergeant Shenjere in respect of any documents required from Ecobank Zimbabwe
for purposes of his investigations,” Marconatti submitted.
On or about December 13, 2022, my lawyers wrote to the
officer-in-charge CCD following up on the progress and requesting the police to
at least communicate anything in case they are facing any challenges.
“Nothing to date has been communicated.”
He added: “I submit that the police have failed to perform
any of the duties outlined above.
“I reported the case in 2021, and to date, Song has not
been taken to court despite the availability of overwhelming evidence and the
fact that some cases l reported are straightforward.”
In his application, Marconati is seeking a declaratory
relief ascertaining his right to equal protection and benefit from the law.
Marconati said the failure by the police to investigate and
submit dockets in respect of complaints he filed between 2021 and 2022 violates
his right to equality before the law.
“The respondents have breached their constitutional duty by
refusing to act upon the complaints I filed with them, which complaints relate
to offences committed in violation of my property rights,” he submitted.
“Respondents have refused to protect my rights through the
use of the criminal justice system, which protection and benefit l am entitled
to by operation of the law.
“I have been deprived of this right. I have been treated
differently.
“All my complaints, despite respondents admitting that
there was a reasonable suspicion that a crime was committed, were neither
investigated nor prosecuted.
“My attempts to assert my rights have been futile so far.”
He added: “I am left with no option but to approach this
court for the vindication of my rights as I am constitutionally entitled to do.
"The failure by the police to perform their duties is
detrimental to my property and business interests at large.
“What is now apparent is that instead of maintaining law
and order; the police are aiding, abetting and harbouring a criminal offence.
“The police have become an impediment to law and order,
which is not what it was established for.
“It is clear that someone within the police service is
protecting Song at the expense of maintaining law and order.” Standard
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