Li, who has been evading court appearance since 2021 taking
advantage of her alleged political connections, has been summoned to stand
trial in matter where the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) is a key State
witness. Eagle Italian Shoes and Leather director Francesco Marconati is also a
witness in the same matter after alerting the RBZ on the illicit transactions
to offshore bank accounts which were done without his knowledge. Li and
Marconati were business partners at Eagle Italian Shoes and Leather company.
Marconati blew the whistle on the well- organized syndicate
externalizing scarce forex through RBZ’s foreign currency auction system.
Marconati became a victim of intimidation and arbitrary arrests after blowing
the lead on the alleged scam, resulting in him applying for a protection order
as a whistleblower. Some of the alleged trumped-up charges leveled against him
were eventually dismissed by the courts.
Marconati, who has directorship in several companies that
include Eagle Italian Shoes and Leather, Strengthened Investments Private
Limited among other companies, claims that Li illegally transferred the
companies’ money to her offshore bank accounts registered in Mauritius after
falsifying documents.
He claims in his affidavit that he discovered the alleged
scam sometime in 2021.
He implicated Li because she was involved in bidding for
forex as if on behalf of the company yet it was only for her personal
benefit.
Marconati also discovered that Li was also using other
affiliate companies namely; DGL 9 and 5, and Strengthened Investments to
facilitate illicit transactions, forging invoices, bidding on the foreign
currency system for raw materials which were never purchased or delivered to
Zimbabwe.
He adds that further investigations revealed that Li was
using a company registered in Mauritius known as Jacaranda Consulting Services,
which in terms of its registration status is an investment company.
Marconati then reported the matter to RBZ which took up the
matter and conducted its own investigations which led it to join the case as
complainants against Li. Newsday
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