Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Rwodzi ,Mujuru and Interfin Bank money laundering web Part 4 of 10


Rwodzi ,Mujuru and Interfin Bank money laundering web Part 4 of 10
This is the fourth of a 10 part series meant to document the excessive asset grabbing and looting being done by the Farai Rwodzi-Mujuru-Interfin Bank Zimbabwe syndicate. This article covers a well documented gold deal that was exposed a few years back. It is important to clearly highlight deals like these as they are the ones that Interfin Bank Zimbabwe and Meikles Africa Chairman Farai Rwodzi has been benefiting from and assisting to lauder the proceeds. This should also accurately inform Interfin business partners such as MoneyGram International. Multi Choice Africa who they are dealing with. In addition entities such as Kingdom Meikles Africa chaired by Farai Rwodzi role in the on going asset looting and money laundering must be documented.

A highly detailed report by Catherine Philp a Diplomatic Correspondent and Graham Keeley in Barcelona, Spain alleged that Vice President Joice Mujuru has lost favour with Mugabe following reports that her daughter, Nyasha Mujuru del Campo, tried to sell 3.7 tonnes of gold and diamonds worth more than $15 million to a European company, Firstar. Mujuru was reported to be behind the deal and to have threatened the head of Firstar Europe, Bernd Hagemann, when he scrapped the deal.

The Vice-President of Zimbabwe has been accused of trying to sell millions of dollars in gold nuggets and diamonds in defiance of international sanctions.
Joyce Mujuru used her daughter as a go-between to seek a deal for the gold, according to Firstar, a commodities trader based in Britain, which says that it was approached in November.

Mrs Mujuru, , is among the 200 Zimbabweans specified by European Union and United States sanctions for alleged human rights abuses. The article entitled Gold and the General's Daughter
http://www.ocnus.net/artman2/publish/Dark_Side_4/Gold_and_the_General_s_Daughter_printer.shtml
Firstar claims that Mrs Mujuru’s daughter and Spanish son-in-law, Nyasha and Pedro del Campo, offered to sell 3,700kg of gold for $90 million to Firstar Europe Ltd, a precious metal dealer. At the present market rate, one kilo of gold sells for $30,700 (£21,500).

Mr del Campo allegedly e-mailed Firstar offering 3.7 tonnes of gold nuggets with a certificate of origin from the Democratic Republic of Congo and $15 million of diamonds without certification. He claimed to represent two commodities companies, Onesafara International and Berline Equities Corp. But over the course of the correspondence, it allegedly came to light that the real seller was Mrs Mujuru.

Bernd Hagamann, the president of Firstar, told The Times: “Our investigations showed who was really involved in the deal — Mrs Mujuru — who is on our blacklist. So we refused.”

Mr Hagamann said that when he told Mrs del Campo that he would not buy “blood gold” she offered to change the certificate of origin to Kenya.

“We have no interest in buying gold from people running a country where people are dying of cholera or from Congo, where the money from any deal would be used to buy arms to kill more people,” he said. “This is bloody gold. These people are criminals.”
Mr Hagamann said that after refusing to go ahead with the deal and telling the couple that he was reporting them to the authorities he received a telephone call from Mrs Mujuru.

“She said, ‘Some people will visit your house. You and your daughter will have problems’. But I was not afraid. It was funny. I told her she would have problems coming to Europe.” That’s a quote from the Times report.

The article entitled Zimbabwe's vice-president foiled in 3,600kg gold deal
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/africa/article5796426.ece

Firstar posted the e-mail correspondence and documents concerning the deal on its website, saying that it wished to deter other blacklisted buyers. The documents included photographs of the gold nuggets and one of 13 diamonds ranging from one to five carats. E-mails between Mrs del Campo and Firstar detailed how the gold would be transported from Nairobi to Zurich once Firstar had paid $100,000 for transportation costs. A certificate of origin stated that the gold was from Lubumbashi, an area of the Democratic Republic of Congo with links to Zimbabwean officials. http://www.swradioafrica.com/Documents/Letter%20to%20Journalists.pdf

The case raises concerns about attempts by members of unsavoury regimes to break sanctions. Mrs Mujuru and her husband, Solomon, a former head of the national army, are among the wealthiest and most powerful people in Zimbabwe, with extensive mining interests, including the River Ranch Diamond Mines. The World Diamond Council has accused the company of trafficking blood diamonds by mixing them with Zimbabwean stones and smuggling them to South Africa.

http://www.zwnews.com/issuefull.cfm?ArticleID=20017
Farai Rwodzi has acted as financial Advisor and facilitator and custodian of the looted funds at Interfin Bank which he co-owns with the Mujurus and other related politicians.Most of the proceeds of the looting spree end up at Interfin Bank Zimbabwe chaired by Farai Rwodzi resulting in Interfin Banking Corporation always claiming to be “the cash rich Group” .Its clear where the cash is coming from.

This article appears courtesy of GMRI CAPITAL – www.gmricapital.com . It is original content generated for 3MG MEDIA – www.3mgmedia.ca .

Gilbert Muponda is an Investment Banker and Founder of GMRI CAPITAL . He can be reached at; www.ZimFace.com and www.facebook.com/muponda

Email: gilbert@gilbertmuponda.com . Skype ID: gilbert.Muponda

Twitter ; http://twitter.com/gmricapital

Phone: 1-416-841-5542

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