Govt audit into disappearance of $15 billion stalls

While responding to questions from senators on Thursday, Mines and Mining Development Minister Walter Chidhakwa said that the government audit into the disappearance of diamonds worth billions of dollars in Marange has been stalled by court challenges and inaccessibility to relevant information from firms that used to extract diamonds in Chiadzwa.

He was responding to Midlands Senator Lillian Timveous (MDC-T) who had asked what his ministry was doing to account for the $15 billion which President Mugabe revealed was lost in Marange. Said Chidhakwa:

The contracted (audit) companies could not have unfettered access to information that was required because the companies which they wanted to do forensic audits on were in fact before the courts. We re-started the activity for some of the companies once the court cases had been decided upon and we realised that issues of information still remain a problem. We have now crafted a new path and have opted for the use of technology to access and be able to establish exactly how much was moved from the ground. From there, we will work out how many diamonds were lost in the process. It is not an easy thing to do but I want to assure this House that we are aware of the importance of this matter to Zimbabweans. I want to assure honourable senators here that we will do the best we can to get hold of the matter. Whatever the private sector companies will find, we will bring that to Parliament.

More: Herald