Claims Zim Lost $15 Billion Were Made As A Cover Up Says Defence Secretary

Speaking before the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Mines and Energy which is investigating allegations by former President Robert Mugabe that Zimbabwe could have lost $15 billion in diamond revenue, Defence secretary Martin Rushwaya said the claims may have been made by officials seeking to justify the closure of diamond mines in the Chiadzwa fields and the consolidation of operations under the state-owned Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company.

Said Rushwaya:

When Mugabe announced the issue of the $15 billion, we said to our colleagues from the Mines Ministry that they must come up with an explanation and asked who gave Mugabe those figures but nobody came out. Obviously, whoever gave the figures was someone mischievous and with an ulterior motive, maybe to justify consolidation of diamond mines in Chiadzwa because there was no scientific evidence that there are $15 billion worth of diamonds in Chiadzwa. It is difficult to reach $14 billion diamond output the world over in a year.

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