APA-Harare (Zimbabwe) Zimbabwe will investigate allegations of money laundering and gold smuggling aired in an Al-Jazeera documentary last month, Information Minister Monica Mutsvangwa said late Tuesday.
Speaking for the first time on the Qatar-based broadcaster’s revelations, Mutsvangwa said President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government “takes note of a documentary titled “Gold Mafia” currently being serialised by an international broadcasting channel which purports to expose a network of alleged money laundering and gold smuggling in Zimbabwe.”
“Government takes the allegation raised in the documentary seriously and has directed relevant organs to institute investigations into the 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,” the minister said in a statement.
She reaffirmed said the Harare authorities’ commitment to upholding local and international laws, “including laws relating to financial transactions, the trade of gold and other precious minerals.”
In the documentary, Mnangagwa’s Ambassador-at-Large to Europe and the Americas, Uebert Angel, was secretly recorded offering to launder as much as US$1.2 billion into Zimbabwe using his diplomatic status.
The self-proclaimed prophet was also recorded saying he could facilitate the smuggling of hundreds of millions of dollars of gold per week through a syndicate fronted by Zimbabwe Miners Federation president Henrietta Rushwaya who is believed to be related to Mnangagwa.
He also bragged about his close relations with Mnangagwa and how much access and power he had because of him.
“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,” Mutsvangwa said.
The Al Jazeera exposé has also soiled the image of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe after the central bank was alleged to be facilitating the operations of international money laundering syndicates.
JN/APA