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Chinese couple accused of forgery

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The Chinese couple accused of seizing a furniture company with shares worth $500 000 allegedly used fake names on share certificates. Zhaosheng Wu and Yan Yu reportedly named themselves Willa Yu and Frank Yu on the share certificate they allegedly manufactured. This was revealed in court where their co-accused Dawid Johannes Erasmus admitted he got […]

The Chinese couple accused of seizing a furniture company with shares worth $500 000 allegedly used fake names on share certificates.

Zhaosheng Wu and Yan Yu reportedly named themselves Willa Yu and Frank Yu on the share certificate they allegedly manufactured.

This was revealed in court where their co-accused Dawid Johannes Erasmus admitted he got the letter to appoint the couple, as directors of Monomotapa Garden Furniture, from Zhaosheng, Yu’s wife.

Under cross-examination by prosecutor Editor Mavuto, Erasmus further admitted that the document presented to him by Zhaosheng had anomalies but he still acted on it.

The share certificate, allegedly signed by the complainant, Atur Fernando Pieria Dias, indicating he was transferring 1 000 shares to the Chinese couple, named Dias’s wife, Liliana, as a co-director when in fact his daughter, Rosalie was.

In his defence, Erasmus called his business partner Brian Murphy, a former senior magistrate, to testify on the matter.

Murphy denied he was present when Erasmus was allegedly appointed as director by Dias contrary to Erasmus’s claims.

Murphy further told the court he instructed his secretary to issue a share certificate which was supposed to be signed by directors, but it was left at his office’s reception unsigned.

In his evidence, Erasmus told the court he took over the running of Monomotapa Garden Furnisher, to protect Dias’s interests when he left for South Africa with his family.

But according to the alleged forged share certificate, which was presented as exhibit before regional magistrate Never Katiyo, Erasmus appointed himself as one of the directors together with the Chinese couple.

Allegations are that the Chinese couple agreed to buy Monomotapa Garden Furnisher in 2008 from Dias but after failing to pay for the company, they got Erasmus to forge a share certificate.

They then allegedly transferred 1 000 shares into the Chinese couple’s company, Shomet Industrial Development, valued at $500 000.