Gold Mafia: Zim probes alleged perpetrators
BUSINESS REPORTER
Government said Tuesday it would take action on individuals implicated in the salting away of Zimbabwe’s gold.
The threat by Information minister Monica Mutsvangwa comes after Qatari- based news channel, Al Jazeera, has been airing documentaries on the illicit trading of Zimbabwe’s gold.
“Government takes the allegations raised in the documentary seriously and has directed relevant organs to institute investigations into issues raised therein. Any person found to have engaged in acts of corruption, fraud or any form of crime will face the full wrath of the law,” Mutsvangwa said.
She said “boastful behaviour and name-dropping by some personalities featured in the documentary, seeking personal gain and glory should never be taken as enunciation of government policy”.
In the documentary, Ambassador at Large Uebert Angel is recorded boasting he would launder over US$1bn in a diplomatic bag.
Angel’s assistant Rikki Doolan told the undercover reporters to pay a US$200,000 facilitation fee to meet President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
Mutsvangwa re-affirmed the government’s commitment to upholding “local and international laws, including laws relating to financial transactions through trade of gold and other precious minerals”.
Last month, the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) said it was investigating Angel and gold dealer Ewan MacMillan, on allegations of money laundering.
The FIU instructed the Insurance and Pensions Commission to get as much information as possible from the insurance industry players on Angel and MacMillan’s insured assets held or disposed of by the two directly or indirectly through companies or trusts for the period between January 1, 2020 and March 21,2023.
