Online Reporter
Robson Sharuko, B-Metro Editor
BUSINESSMAN Adrian Mtungwazi might be in the eye of a US$4,2 million fraud storm in Australia but in the City of Kings he is being treated like royalty and celebrated as a multi-millionaire businessman who struck gold in the Diaspora.
The 53-year-old made headlines last month amid claims that his company Adachi Disability Services owed millions of dollars to the Aussie tax office, employees and other creditors.
A liquidator is claiming the company, which was involved in the care business, was involved in insolvent trading and it transferred millions of dollars into offshore property and luxury assets.
Mtungwazi left Australia in May but his wife Chiedza Mtungwazi, 45, is still holed up in Perth where she is facing claims from a liquidator that the couple abused company funds and withdrew more than US$1,3 million in loans.
Chiedza is said to be cooperating with investigators.
There are claims that the money which was secured through loans extended to the two directors was used to, among other others, buy a shopping mall in Bulawayo, a Ferrari and even a football club.
The couple hasn’t been charged.
However, the Deputy Commissioner of Taxation in Australia has filed a writ with the Western Australian Supreme Court seeking to recover what it claims is the US$1,9 million which Adachi owes in unpaid tax and other debts.
But despite all those ugly headlines, Mtungwazi is being feted like a hero in his hometown where the locals are rallying behind him.
They even argue that he is an innocent man who is being targeted, and crucified, for his success by jealousy competitors who don’t believe that a black immigrant has the capacity to strike it big the way he did.
In a way, he has become something like a rock star in his hometown.
And, he even appears to dress like one.
Wearing a dark BOGART jacket jean, a matching black T-shirt, a matching black hat, dark shades, a gold chain dangling from his neck and a large gold ring on one of his fingers, Mtungwazi was the star attraction at the Cotton Club nightclub in Bulawayo on Sunday night.
Given that popular record producer, DJ Levels, was also in the same club, after a performance in the city earlier that day, the fact that Mtungwazi was the star attraction underlined the magnitude of his appeal.
He chose a table on the fringes of the VVIP area but it quickly became clear that even those occupying the VVIP seats were playing second fiddle to the businessman.
Many patrons just could not resist the lure to go to his table to shake his hand and have a chat with him and, to his credit, he appeared to have the time to engage with them.
He was surrounded by his team but there were no bouncers around him and he gave the impression of a man who was at peace with himself among his people.
Now, and again, he responded to the music, which was dominated by the Amapiano songs from South African artists, and while he would not win any dance competition, what was clear was that he was enjoying himself.
Now and again he would sip his Hennessy – the alcoholic drink which has been dropped in thousands of rap songs by American artists in the past three decades.
“He is the man-of-the-moment here in Skies,” a patron in the VVIP Enclosure told B-Metro.
“He is a big man brother, he is a rich man and people respect his story because he went out there and worked hard and made very good money – that’s a story that the boys in the townships want to hear.
“He also invested in this city because that shopping mall that he bought is going to be renovated and it will provide employment for our people and every city wants its sons and daughters to do that to help it develop.
“I’m told he has been helping a lot of people here in Bulawayo although I’m not sure about that but it’s something that I’ve heard and it maybe explains why he is so popular here.”
When one raised the issue of his troubles in Australia, he was not short of defence lawyers in the club.
“It’s all jealousy my brother, you know the story, this man worked hard to start and build a company that was now making millions of dollars and that attracts interest, especially from rivals and the bad guys, who don’t believe an immigrant from Zim has such a capacity,” said a businessman who was having regular conversations with Mtungwazi.
“He is a hard worker and maybe should not have flashed his lifestyle on social media because I think that is where these bad people got the stuff to fight him.
“But, that doesn’t mean he is a criminal, he is not the first and will not be the last to show off his lifestyle.
“He didn’t flee from justice as they are suggesting, he came here because his mother was sick and it’s unfortunate that she eventually died and that is why he stuck around.
“He will be back in Australia, maybe in a month’s time, because he has nothing to fear as everything was done above board.”
Just after 2am, in the early hours of Sunday morning, Mtungwazi decided it was time to call off the clubbing.
He paid his bill and at about 2,10am, he left.
As if on cue, the bar lights were dimmed as if to confirm that the king had left the scene.
From his car he could clearly hear that the music was still playing inside the nightclub.
He was leaving behind his people, the men and women who had feted him in the nightclub, and the joyful atmosphere was a world away from the challenges he was facing at his base in Perth.
It has been six eventful years for Mtungwazi and his wife.
Just before Covid-19 struck, Mtungwazi and his wife established Adachi Disability Services in Perth.
It was registered as a health care provider under the National Disability Insurance Scheme.
The company once employed 300 people and it provided daily assistance and services to dozens of clients.
Just two years after the company was established, Mtungwazi was honoured by the Zimbabwe Association of Western Australia.
He was handed an “Innovation and Entrepreneurship Award.”
