Investigations established that the trio defrauded
unsuspecting people across the country of US$1 million.
In opposing bail Detective Brighton Samaneka said when they
arrested Zhao on July 12, he was on the verge of fleeing the country. His aim
was to place himself in a country beyond the jurisdiction of the court he was
sitting on loads of fraudulently obtained money which gave him reason to
abscond.
Detective Samaneka said Kuchekenya was likely to abscond as
he was facing a very serious offense involving large sums of money. Kuchekenya
was said to be the one working in the e-creator offices at Joina City building
in Harare and could be positively identified by hundreds of witnesses.
The court heard
heard that sometime in January 2023, Zhao hatched a plan to defraud
unsuspecting Zimbabwean nationals through an online investment Ponzi scheme. It
is alleged that on February 7, 2021 the trio whilst acting in connivance with
Bily Thomas Syedou ,Abraham Mutambu and others who are still at large, Zhao
registered a company with the Zimbabwean Registrar of Companies styled
E-Creator Electronic Commence Private Limited under company registration number
2853/23, with its offices situated at room 15 and 16 on the 10 Floor Joina City
Building, Harare.
The court heard that
Jiaotong went on to launch the company as an online e-commerce operator with a
global internet as its core.
During the period from February to July Zhao and his
accomplices missrepresented to unsuspecting Zimbabweans that if they invested
with the company, they will enjoy huge monthly profits depending on the amount
invested. As such many Zimbabweans across the country flocked to the company
and invested very large sums through various Ecocash numbers supplied on the
platform by the gang.
To make the company more attractive and appealing to
unsuspecting Zimbabweans the accused used the media including the national
television broadcaster ZTV, social media and powerful Zimbabwean socialites
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 in order to gain more subscribers.
They also employed
agents in major towns and cities throughout the country in order to market the
business.
On July 3 some of the complainants encountered challenges
in accessing their funds and approached the company for clarification.
One of the accused, Abraham Mutambu, assured the
complainants that it was a system upgrade that was preventing them from
accessing the funds.
He further advised them that the situation would normalise
in due course but 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 as the one who taken their money and
absconded to China.
The complainants also visited accused’s known offices and
found that they had been permanently closed and there were no signs of business
operations.
They got information that the accused person had actually
withdrawn the money and fled.
As a result of
accused’s actions, the complainants suffered an actual prejudice of around US$1
million and nothing was recovered. Herald
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