RBZ Officials, White And Indian Businessmen Fingered In Gold Smuggling - Report
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UPDATE: The Business Times has since retracted the article below from its website following complaints from the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ). The RBZ has said that the article is false and malicious.
A Business Times report says that senior officials at the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) and two white businessmen based in Harare have been implicated in a gold smuggling syndicate which has prejudiced the country of foreign currency.
The gold smuggling ring was reportedly paying miners 100 percent in foreign currency, thus limiting the amount of gold traded through the formal system.
The RBZ officials and a well-known gold dealer, alongside a group of Indian businessmen are reported to be behind the scam.
Business Times quoted an unnamed source who said:
There is an Indian businessman and one white businessman with offices in Eastlea who are offering 100 per cent foreign currency to small scale gold miners.
The trend has even gone a step higher where those two are now approaching big gold mining companies offering 100 per cent foreign currency payment, a situation likely going to hit the country’s gold deliveries.
The massive leakages of gold were confirmed by Fidelity Printers General Manager Fradreck Kunaka who is quoted as saying:
These are allegations that we have heard but we have not been able to get real facts on the matter as there is massive colluding between the actors.
So it has been difficult for us to get the real quantum on how much we are being prejudiced but as you are aware all the actors in the syndicate stand to benefit.
There is massive collusion between the miner, milling owner and the buyer and its something that is happening under the table, so we have tried to conduct some investigations but to no avail.