In her ruling, Mrs Marehwanazvo Gofa, concurred with the
investigating officer, Detective Brighton Samaneka, that the suspects were a
flight risk and therefore, not proper candidates for bail.
Investigations established that the trio defrauded unsuspecting
people across the country of around US$1 million. The magistrate said the
suspects were facing a serious offence which might induce them to flee the
country.
In opposing bail, Detective Samaneka said when they
arrested Jiaotong on July 12, he was on the verge of skipping the jurisdiction
of this country.
He said his aim was to place himself in a country beyond
the jurisdiction of the Zimbabwean courts.
He added that Jiaotong was sitting on loads of fraudulently
obtained money which gave him reason to abscond.
Detective Samaneka said Kuchekenya was likely to abscond as
he is facing a very serious offence involving large sums of money.
Kuchekenya was the one working in the E-Creator offices at
Joina City and he could be positively identified by hundreds of witnesses.
The court heard that sometime in January 2023, Jiaotong
hatched a plan to defraud unsuspecting Zimbabwean nationals through an online
investment Ponzi scheme.
It is alleged that on February 7, 2021 the trio acting in
connivance with Bily Thomas Syedou, Abraham Mutambu and others who are still at
large, registered a company with the Zimbabwean Registrar of Companies styled E-Creator
Electronic Commence Private Limited under company registration number 2853/23.
Its registered office was room 15 and 16 10th Floor Joina
City Building, Harare.
The court heard that Jiaotong went on to launch the company
as a global online e-commerce operator.
Between February and July 2023, the accused misrepresented
to unsuspecting Zimbabwean nationals that if they invested with the company,
they would enjoy huge monthly profits depending on the amount invested.
Many Zimbabweans across the country flocked to the company
and collectively invested up to US$1 million through various Ecocash numbers
supplied on the platform by the accused.
To make the company more attractive and appealing to
unsuspecting Zimbabweans, the accused used the media including the national
broadcaster ZTV, social media and powerful Zimbabwean socialites namely
including Tarisai Cleopatra Munetsiwa also known as Madam Boss and Admire
Mushambi also known as Mama Vee to advertise the company business on their
social media platforms.
They also employed various agents in major towns and cites
throughout the country to market the business.
On July 3, 2023 some of the complaints encountered
challenges in accessing their funds and approached the company for
clarification.
One of the accused, Abraham Mutambu assured the
complainants that it was system upgrade that was preventing them from accessing
the funds.
He further advised them that the situation would normalise
in due course. However, on July 5, 2023, the complainants were shocked to
realise that E-Creator Electronic Commerce Private) Limited had actually posted
a notice on their website that they were no-longer operating and they posted
the passport photo of accused Zhao Jiatong saying he was the one who taken
their money and absconded to China.
The complainants also visited accused’s known offices and
got the shock of their lives when they had been permanently closed and there
were no signs of business operations.
Furthermore, they got information that the accused person
had actually withdrawn the money and fled.
As a result of accused’s actions complainants suffered an
actual prejudice of US$1 million and nothing was recovered. Herald
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