daniel chigunwe
Court Correspondent
The High Court has struck off the roll, an appeal that had been filed by the State against the acquittal of businessman Francesco Marconati, who was being charged with four counts of fraud and forgery.
The appeal was heard before Justice Happious Zhou and Justice Benjamin Chikowero on Monday. In the application filed in February this year, the Prosecutor-General Loice Matanda-Moyo cited several reasons which formulated the grounds of appeal.
Cited in the application was Marconati and Magistrate Ruth Moyo as respondents.
The complainant in the case heard at the Harare Magistrates Court was Li Song, who is Marconati’s former business partner.
He was acquitted on November 14, 2022 after a full trial during which he was represented by Advocate Tafadzwa Lancelot Mapuranga.
According to the application, PG Matanda-Moyo contended that Magistrate Moyo made a legal error by acquitting Marconati and deeming the matter to be civil in nature.
“In respect to count 1 and 3, the court a quo erred at law in acquitting the first respondent and finding that the matter was civil in nature, despite the fact that the court was presented with clear evidence that misrepresentations were made by the first respondent, with two forged CR6s to the Deeds Office, containing false information, with the intention to commit fraud.”
She said: “In respect to counts 2 and 4, the court a quo erred at law in making a finding that the matter was civil in nature and acquitting the first respondent despite the fact that the court was presented with clear evidence that misrepresentations were made by the first respondent, with two forged CR6s to Ecobank, which CR6s were disowned by the Deeds Office as they were never filed there . . .”
The appeal was eventually thrown out.
Bongani Ndlovu
Online Reporter