HARARE – The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ)’s Financial Intelligence Unit announced on Wednesday that it had frozen the assets of four officials who were implicated in facilitating gold smuggling.
The move came after a public outcry over the Al Jazeera exposé.
The officials whose assets were frozen include Cleopas Chidodo, who is the head of security at the Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe stationed at Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport, David Chirozvi, who is the head of finance at RBZ’s Aurex Jewellery, Mehluleli Dube, who is the gold-buying manager at Fidelity Printers and Refiners, and Fredrick Kunaka, who is the general manager at Fidelity Printers and Refiners.
However, critics have expressed outrage over the decision to freeze the assets of these officials, stating that the authorities were targeting the small fish, leaving the kingpins involved in the alleged gold smuggling and money laundering scandal.
The Zimbabwe Miners Federation president, Henrietta Rushwaya, and gold dealer Ewan MacMillan were also implicated in the Gold Mafia exposé.
Exiled former Cabinet minister Jonathan Moyo expressed his dissatisfaction with the decision to freeze only the assets of the four officials.
He stated that the authorities should also freeze the assets of Uebert Angel’s Billion Group, which he claims facilitates gold smuggling and money laundering.
“It would be unwise to go after all of these pikininis on grounds that they incriminate themselves in the documentary when everyone has seen that their handlers, the real Gold Mafia as described in the documentary, have done more and better self-incrimination, and basically nailed themselves beyond any escape,” Moyo said on Twitter.
“There is no reason for not freezing the assets of the ambassador’s Billion Group, given what he says about it in the documentary!”
The Zimbabwean government has already launched a probe into the corruption allegations raised in the Al Jazeera exposé after weeks of denial.
