Zvikomborero Parafini
BUSINESSMAN Francesco Marconati was yesterday sentenced to five years imprisonment for fraud.
The Italian was convicted after a full trial by Harare regional magistrate Donald Ndirowei.
Of the five years, three years were suspended on condition that he doesn’t commit an offence involving dishonesty in the next five years.
Magistrate Ndirowei said the impact of the offence on the complainant, Li Song, was serious and she suffered serious financial prejudice.
“The convict and the complainant have been business partners for a very long period of time and have shared a social and financial relationship.
“The complainant has suffered immense prejudice as will more fully appear in her affidavit and the impact of the offence on her is serious, she has suffered serious emotional trauma and depression.
“The offence has caused serious financial prejudice and losses on the complainant as she has failed to attend to business appointments because of the emotional breakdown.
“The convict is not a first offender, he has two previous convictions under reference number 10875 and 2860.
“The State has produced the certificate of previous convictions as an exhibit and the convict does not dispute the previous convictions.
“One of the previous convictions is theft of trust property and this court takes a very dim view on the convict’s conduct as he has shown very little respect for the criminal justice system of this country by repeatedly committing offences of a similar nature even after being convicted.
“The courts must be taken seriously and this court, in particular, must be seen to be taking stern action against the accused person by imposing a deterrent sentence,” he said.
The State, represented by Anesu Chirenje, proved that Li Song holds 49% shares while Marconati holds 51% shares in Eagle Italian Shoes (Pvt) Ltd company.
This company was jointly formed by both parties on 1 June 2004.
On October 7, 2021, Marconati forged minutes of a General Meeting and further compiled a Form CR 6 for the directorship returns of Eagle Italian Shoes and made a false statement on the CR 6 where he stated that Song and Agrilink resigned from directorship and secretary respectively.
Marconati tendered the forged papers at the Registrar of Companies Office in Harare and it caused a prejudice of US$6 750 000 to Song.