Branded A National Security Threat
In a case of mutually assured destruction, Chinese controversial businesswoman Li Song was deported last week on Thursday, while her Italian estranged love and business partner Francesco Marconati was jailed for two years following a bitter fallout characterised by dramatic fraud and corruption cases.
Li (52) and her son Haoxuan, who was collateral damage, were deported for being a “national security threat” with Home Affairs minister Kazembe Kazembe and President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s approval, according to high-level official sources.
The interior ministry recently issued a deportation order to Li, saying she is a national security, but for a while she evaded police and immigration officers with the help of insiders, according to sources.
This led to the deployment of an anti-terrorism unit to hunt her down as her case was now considered a national security threat to arrest her son.
Haoxuan, whose stay in Zimbabwe was linked to his mother’s residence status, was then arrested to be deported.
Before his shock deportation, Haoxuan had filed an urgent High Court application seeking to block the move, challenging the chief immigration officer and Minister of Home Affairs for threatening to deport him without due process and a court order.
This argument did not work as Mnangagwa had approved the deportation move on “national security” grounds and declared her persona non grata, a prohibited immigrant.
Oliver Marwa, the two’s lawyer, confirmed deportation of his clients, but complained that due process was not followed.
After her son’s High Court application flopped, Li was forced to surrender herself to police as the son was now in detention.
As a result, on Wednesday last week Li and Haoxuan were detained at Hatfield Police Station in Harare awaiting deportation the following day.
Li was last seen online on her Zimbabwean cellphone number on Wednesday last week at 11:15am prior to her detention in preparation for deportation.
The following fateful day, 19 September, Li and her son were escorted through the Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport VIP section straight to a flight to Beijing where they landed on 20 September.
Meanwhile, Marconati, who is equally controversial, was being jailed for two years as mother and son were being deported.
Marconati is not Haoxuan’s father.
His son is Alessandaro, who was also involved in the drama of their personal and business relationships.
However after his conviction, Marconati urgently appealed and was granted bail yesterday – a chance for him to secure his freedom and seize control of the assets at stake.
Li and Marconati’s social and business interests were closely intertwined, making their cases complex, complicated and the dispute long-running.
The two had lived and worked together for 18 years, with interests in several companies, including Eagle Italian Shoes (Pvt) Ltd, Eagle Italian Leather, DGL Investments Number Five (Pvt) Ltd (DGL5), DGL9, and Ecis Investments (Pvt) Ltd trading as Mana Pools Lodge, among other companies.
Their construction company built Lupane University in Matabeleland North province.
Eagle Italian Shoes and Eagle Italian Leather supplied the police and army with materials for years.
This highly networked Li with top security services chiefs, besides top politicians.Marconati and Li had been at each other’s throats over their bitter love affair and business interests amid a number of criminal cases, involving fraud, theft, smuggling and externalisation of large sums of money in different and various cases.
At the time of her deportation, Li was also facing charges of defrauding the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority of US$40 000 through misrepresentation of a rebate application on chemicals, including cyanide and hydraulic lime products.
The Chinese businesswoman had been entangled in a cyanide scandal in which she was accused of buying and illegally storing cyanide at Bulawayo locations.
The cyanide scandal raised a storm of controversy.
The case involved many other people accused of playing different roles to facilitate the illegality.
The cyanide saga had attracted the attention of the police, Environmental Management Agency and Zimra, given the sensitivity of the chemical.
Li had been arrested by the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission over the case, while she complained of interference in the case by her adversaries.
Marconati similarly complained Li interfered with investigations in her cases, particularly those in which he alleged fraud, theft and externalisation.
After their last ditch stand to prevent being turned out failed,Li and her son were turfed out to China, leaving a country she has lived for 29 years.
Li was born on 20 January 1972 in Henan province, the third-most populous province in central China’s Yellow River valley with a population of over 100 million people.
She had come to Zimbabwe about 30 years ago and set up herself in business, especially mining, manufacturing, construction, hospitality and wildlife conservation issues.
While Li was heading back home, Marconati was going to prison.
Marconati was slapped with a two-year jail term after he was found guilty of fraudulently removing Li as his business partner from the Eagle Italian Shoes directorship.
The Italian tycoon unlawfully removed Li from the company directorship and Agrilink as company secretary after he had falsified documents that both had resigned.
Appearing for the state, Anesu Chirenji proved Marconati had provided false information to the registrar of companies that Li had resigned while she had in fact not.
Ndirowei said Marconati submitted the first fake CR6 to Ecobank and First Capital Bank on 14 October 2021 to remove Li as a director and signatory of company accounts and replace her with his son Alessandaro.
Marconati did not follow the processes and procedures in making all shareholders and directors changes, it emerged.
Marconati appointed his son director in December 2022 and filed a second forged CR6 before fraudulently offering a third CR6 in 2023 to bring in Kutaura Bond as extra company director.
As a result, US$6.8 million was lost due to fraud and forgery.
“The state proved that the company secretary was not informed of any of those changes and no resignation letter was submitted by Ms Song,” Ndirowei said.
“No shareholders meeting nor general meeting were conducted. The accused is found guilty as charged.”
Prior to that in June, Marconati had been convicted on three counts of fraud by Harare magistrate Ethel Chichera.
The magistrate found Marconati guilty of abuse of Eagle Italian Shoes’ money to pay the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority for Mana Pools Safari Lodge Investments’ lease.Marconati admitted to transferring US$100 000 equivalent in the demonetised local currency.
Allegations were that on 2 October last year, Marconati transferred ZW$100 000 000 from Eagle Italian to ZimParks without the knowledge of co-shareholders.
The transaction was for lease fees payment for Ecis Investments, trading as Mana Pools Lodge, a company that belongs to Marconati without Li’s knowledge and consent.Li made a report to the police.Marconati also transferred ZW$110 921 356 from Eagle Italian to ZimParks on another date.
In October he transferred $256 586 778.22 to ZimParks.
Marconati and Li’s fight has been bruising.
At one time, Marconati was sentenced to 105 hours at community service at Inyathi Police which he did not complete.
A warrant of arrest was issued for Marconati and his son over the issue.
Marconati later approached the High Court seeking a review of two magistrates’ decisions, saying they violated procedures of good administration of justice.
In his application for review, Marconati cited magistrates Ruth Moyo, Simon Kandiyero, the State and Judicial Service Commission as respondents.
Li was also issued with warrants of arrest during the period for not coming to court as Marconati too was.
In a separate case, Marconati and Bulawayo-based Mark Andrew Hughes were dragged to court in July on allegations of fraudulently taking over a mining company in which they are shareholders.
The two faced two counts of fraud and forgery charges.
Yan Bo, a Chinese national based in Harare, a director and DGL5 shareholder, is the complainant.
Initially, Yan Bo was appointed by Ke Wang in his absence in terms of section 63 of DGL6’s Articles of Association.
Hughes is one of DGL5 shareholders of representing Gwampa mining which holds 20% equity.
Marconati holds 25% in DGL5. Hughes is accused forging a CR6 form on 4 November 2021 and filing it with the Registrar of Companies to appoint himself a DGL5 director from 19 April 2021.
On 28 January 2022, Hughes allegedly forged a CR6 form with the Registrar of Companies and Intellectual Property to appoint Marconati as a new director with a back date of 26 January 2022 without holding a shareholders’ meeting or general meeting.
Hughes allegedly filed the CR6 return without the knowledge and consent of the three shareholders and company secretary, Li
.As a result, the two accused took control of all mining activities and barred other shareholders, Xing Mingchang, Ke Wang and Li, from entering into the company premises as well as having access to the company’s mine premise, production records and revenues.
Marconati further gave mining contracts or tribute agreements to illegal miners for their personal benefits from company assets.
The companies ownership wrangles, fraud and corruption cases characterised the bitter fallout between Marconati and Li after their love affair of 18 years and attendant business relationship collapsed in acrimony and chaos.
