The extent and magnitude of the Farai Rwodzi- Mujuru –Interfin Bank Zimbabwe looting syndicate’s activities must be properly documented such that those assisting and partnering them in any business venture can not claim not to have known these activities. This includes leading brands such as MoneyGram International and Multi choice of South Africa who continue to turn a blind eye on the activities at Interfin Banking Corporation which includes a looted CFX bank in its structure .Interfin’s illegal take over of CFX Bank and subsequent false claims that $ US 5.3 million had been paid to me shows how this syndicate and its side kicks must be exposed and held to account for their asset looting and grabbing.
The Mujuru’s business associate and front Farai Rwodzi and Interfin Bank Zimbabwe is at the centre of the syndicate due to its role as the custodian of the looted proceeds and tasked with cleaning the proceeds into mainstream legitimate business.
Soon after independence, Solomon Mujuru is said to have told a group of his fellow Zezuru clansmen at the plush and former whites-only Harare Club, “I didn’t fight the liberation war to end up a poor man.” This fits well into the sagas that soon followed including the now infamous “steelgate” which named Mujuru’s wife and Vice President as chief looter at Zisco and the CFX Bank saga in which the Mujurus through their business associate and side kick Farai Rwodzi controversially took over my Bank Century/CFX. The Zimbabwe Independent, which has investigated Steelgate in as much depth as allowed by Zimbabwe's oppressive media laws, has described the scandal as the biggest since independence in 1980 and has alleged that it involves members of the state presidency, cabinet ministers, MPs and ZANU PF officials
It has been widely reported that Solomon Mujuru became the subject of the first prosecution for illegal seizure of a farm and its assets. Mujuru has never hidden his fortunes and even asked for exemption from the leadership code which tried to limit the wealth of party leadership.He has ruthlessly sought to own any and every meaningful business in Zimbabwe defying any reason or logic given how what ever businesses they own hardly show any meaningful growth or expansion.
His seizure of Guy Watson-Smith’s 3,500-acre farm south of Harare and his enrichment by selling off farm equipment originally purchased by Watson-Smith at a cost of 80 million dollars was ruled illegal by the Zimbabwe Supreme Court.
Ignoring court decisions it does not like has become one of the trademarks of the Mugabe government. Mujuru is still on the farm while Watson-Smith, now trying to rebuild his family’s life in France, continues forlornly and unsuccessfully to try to sue Mujuru.
The retired general has also been accused recently of illegally seizing the lucrative River Ranch diamond mine in southern Zimbabwe. In a court battle, Mujuru has been accused of “unlawfully and forcibly” taking over the mine.These events have been reported before.
The repeated reporting of this, however, makes it impossible for sympathisers of Farai Rwodzi,Mujuru and Interfin Banking Corporation to claim later that they did not know of this excessive theft whose proceeds were mostly being routed through Interfin Bank chaired by Farai Rwodzi who is also Chairman of Meikles Africa Limited.
Zimbabwe's Vice President, Joice Mujuru, has been let off scot-free after she was named in a National Economic Conduct Inspectorate probe on the plunder of the Zimbabwe Iron and Steel Company (ZISCO) in a report by the Zimbabwean Newspaper in may 2010 http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/index.php?
option=com_content&view=article&id=31050:corruption-of-the-inner-circle&catid=72:thursday-issue
As leaks about the Zisco affair multiplied, the National Economic Conduct Inspectorate, linked to the finance ministry and the Central Intelligence Organisation, CIO, compiled a report into allegations of asset stripping.
Vice President Joice Mujuru was sucked into one of Zimbabwe’s biggest economic scandals since independence, the Zisco Steelgate affair. She has been named in an official report claiming that she and her sidekicks were involved in the alleged looting and asset stripping of the state-run Zimbabwe Iron and Steel Company, Zisco.
Dubbed “Steelgate”, the tentacles of the Zisco looting and asset stripping affair has spread wider with every passing day. One source claimed Joice Mujuru, was in 2003 paid USD11 000 as allowances by the Zisco Botswanan subsidiaries, and received 30 000 litres of fuel (liquid gold!) from Zisco on her election as vice-president in 2004
Zisco is the largest steel plant in Africa outside South Africa. Based at Redcliff, just outside the Zimbabwe Midlands city of Kwekwe, steel production at the troubled plant has collapsed from 14,200 tonnes a month few years ago to less than 1,000 tonnes. Zimbabwe has been unable to attract the minimum foreign investment of 400 million US dollars needed to rehabilitate the increasingly derelict plant. Meanwhile, numerous methods have been allegedly used by top politicians to loot its remaining assets.
These have included claims that large amounts of foreign exchange have been allocated to top government officials led by Vice President Mujuru and their associates who said they were doing business on behalf of the company. Further allegations of abuse of company credit cards, bloated management fees and directors’ expenses as well as false claims for air fares, hotel bills, purchases and entertainment are said to have contributed to catastrophic losses.
Parliament's trade and industry committee, shocked by the withdrawal of GSHL and suggestions of massive government corruption, opened hearings into the Zisco affair.
At the first hearing on September 20, Industry Minister Obert Mpofu caused a sensation when he said that ministers and members of parliament had been looting Zisco and that this was why the Indian group had walked away from the deal. "While they [GSHL] were here, they discovered that the company was being bled," said Mpofu. "There were people that were making money from Zisco. There was a team sent in by the ministry of finance to investigate and they produced a thick document and you would be shocked if you see it.
"Some of the people are my colleagues in this chamber. Influential people have engaged in underhand dealings that have left the company bleeding."The Minister said when referring to Vice President Mujuru and her cronies named as chief looters of the steel maker.
Panic spread through the government, which moved quickly to prevent publication of the inspectorate’s report. Intelligence officials are understood to have advised President Robert Mugabe that releasing the report would jeopardise the country's hopes of attracting desperately needed foreign investment.
Report called Zimbabwean Elite Implicated in Zisco Scandal appeared here http://iwpr.net/report-news/zimbabwean-elite-implicated-zisco-scandal
The alleged looting of the Zisco steelworks is said to have been achieved, among numerous methods, by bid-rigging for contracts, and the allocation of large amounts of foreign exchange to top government officials and their associates who claimed to be doing business on behalf of the company. Huge sums in foreign currency are claimed to have been lost through overpricing by suppliers connected to big fish in government and the former ruling party linked to the Mujurus . Abuse of company credit cards, management fees and directors' expenses as well as false claims for air fares, hotel bills, purchases, and entertainment are alleged to have further contributed to huge losses.
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 chaired by Farai Rwodzi resulting in Interfin Bank always claiming to be “cash rich” when the whole economy is short of liquidity.The question is whose cash is that? And where did it come from?
This article appears courtesy of GMRI CAPITAL – www.gmricapital.com . It is original content generated for 3MG MEDIA.
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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