BY NOKUTHABA DLAMINI
Government has vowed to investigate government and some ruling party officials implicated in the gold smuggling deals secretly documented by Al Jazeera.
In a statement on Tuesday, Information minister Monica Mutsvangwa said any official suspected of the crime will face full wrath of the law after conviction.
“Government takes allegations raised in the documentary seriously and has directed relevant organs to institute investigations into the issues raised therein,” Mutsvangwa said.
“Any persons found to have engaged in acts of corruption, fraud or any form of crime, will face the full wrath of the law.
Government takes this opportunity to re-affirm its commitment to upholding local and international laws, including laws relating to financial transactions, the trade of gold and other precious minerals.
She said the government remains seized with the matter and the nation will be kept apprised of any new developments.
“Boastful behavior and name-dropping by some personalities featured in the Gold Mafia documentary, seeking personal gain and glory, should never be taken as an enunciation of Government Policy.”
The four-part documentary titled The Gold Mafia was filmed by Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit (I-Unit), based on dozens of undercover operations spanning three continents and thousands of documents.
It exposed how huge amounts of gold are clandestinely smuggled every month from Zimbabwe, Africa’s sixth-largest gold producer, to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, aiding money laundering through an intricate web of shell companies, fake invoices and paid-off officials.
Uebert Angel, presidential envoy and ambassador-at-large to Europe and the Americas since March 2021, was secretly filmed bragging that he could move $1.2bn easily, due to his diplomatic immunity.
Other individuals filmed or named in the documentary as being part of smuggling rings include Zimbabwe Miners Federation President Henrietta Rushwaya – believed to be the niece of President Emmerson Mnangagwa – and Kamlesh Pattni, a businessman previously involved in a gold smuggling scandal in Kenya.
Pattni, who “knighted” Robert Mugabe as King of Kings in March 2012, handing over a black gown and gold crown to the late leader, still has strong connections to the ruling party.
In October 2020, Rushwaya was arrested at the Harare airport for attempting to smuggle gold to Dubai. Her case is still in court but the National Prosecuting Authority has said there is not enough evidence for a conviction-VicFallsLive/Aljazeera