Biti: Sentry Report Confirms Zimbabwe Is A Mafia State Controlled By Cartels
Zimbabwe’s former Finance and Economic Development Minister, Tendai Biti has said a recent report by the SENTRY and Open Secrets confirms that Zimbabwe has become a mafia state controlled by cartels and syndicates.
In a joint investigative report titled ‘Fronts, Fakes, and Facades: How South African and Mauritian Enables Helped Move Million from Zimbabwe to Britain’, The Sentry and Open Secrets revealed that presidential advisor Kudakwashe Tagwirei allegedly moved suspect funds illegally from the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) to London using fronts, false invoices, and offshore financial facades. He then made three payments to secure Bindura Nickel and Freda Rebecca Gold Mine at a cost of US$29.5 million.
Biti stated that the report vindicated the suspicions of underhand dealings by President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s associates and that the country was losing US$3 billion annually to looting and corruption. He further noted that illicit financial flows cost Africa US$90 billion per year, and Zimbabwe was losing at least US$3 billion yearly. The Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) outgoing legislator took to Twitter to express his concern, saying:
Illicit Financial Flows are costing Africa US$ 90 billion a year whilst Zimbabwe is losing at least US$3 billion yearly.
The report by The Sentry, Fronts, Fakes& Facades adds another sad chapter in Zimbabwe’s story of plunder and pillage.
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The Report vindicates the contention that Zimbabwe has become a mafia State-run and controlled by cartels and syndicates.
Our biggest worry is the central role by the State in the plunder of Zimbabwe. The Ministry of Finance is at the center of plunder and pillage. It owes the nation an explanation on the US$360 TB issued Jan 2019.
Biti also said the Central Bank must explain why the same TB was discounted in US$ in July 2019 when all other TBs had been converted into RTGS$ by virtue of SI 33 of 2019, according to Biti. He further stated that the Central Bank must come clean on its role in transferring US$29.5 million to Duff & Phelps in the UK and that the government must explain how shares acquired privately ended up being housed in Kuvimba.
According to The Sentry and Open Secrets report, Zimbabwe loses between $500 million and $1 billion annually to illicit cross-border transactions. The documents reviewed in connection with the investigation report suggest that the transactions to buy the mines are a textbook example of how money moves from some of the poorest countries into some of the richest via enablers and a lax legal framework in the offshore world. The United States imposed sanctions on Tagwirei after accusing him of corruption.
The Sentry Report comes barely months after Al Jazeera’s “Gold Mafia” documentary exposed money laundering and smuggling in and around Zimbabwe by government-linked individuals and senior officials.
