Convicted businessman Francesco Marconati is scheduled to return to court today for sentencing following his pre-sentence hearing last Friday.
Marconati, who had a warrant of arrest issued against him last week, managed to have it canceled after demonstrating he was not intentionally avoiding court.
His lawyers persuaded Magistrate Donald Ndirowei that Marconati was present at the High Court when he was supposed to be at the regional court for sentencing.
Marconati was found guilty last week by Magistrate Ndirowei after a full trial, during which it was revealed he had fraudulently removed his business partner from the directorship of Eagle Italian Shoes.
Ndirowei determined that Marconati had unlawfully removed Li Song from the company’s board and Agrilink from the position of company secretary by falsifying documents to indicate that both had resigned.
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The prosecution, led by Anesu Chirenje, proved that Marconati had falsely reported to the registrar of companies that Song had resigned when she had not.
Ndirowei noted that Marconati submitted a fraudulent CR6 form to Ecobank and First Capital Bank on October 14, 2021, to replace Song with his son Alessandaro Marconati as company director and account signatory. This CR6 was never officially filed.
Marconati did not follow proper procedures for removing Song, failed to conduct a general or shareholders meeting, and did not notify Song about the changes.
In December 2022, he appointed his son Alessandro Marconati as a director by filing a second forged CR6 and later, in 2023, created a third forged CR6 to appoint Kutaura Bond as an additional director. This fraudulent activity resulted in a loss of US$6.8 million.
Ndirowei stated, “The State demonstrated that the company secretary was not informed of any changes, and no resignation letter from Ms. Song was submitted.”
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