United Kingdom-based law professor Alex Magaisa says that it is important that authorities release the full list of the names of people who benefited from the creation of the Zimbabwe Asset Management Company (ZAMCO).
ZAMCO was created by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe soon after the current Governor, John Panonetsa Mangudya’s appointment as central bank chief in 2014.
ZAMCO was created to buy non-performing loans from banks, and 61% of the loans were bought from CBZ, the bank which Mangudya was leading before being appointed RBZ Governor. This raises eyebrows. Magaisa explains:
Zimbabwe, don’t listen to the view that the RBZ Debt Assumption Act didn’t cover the Farm Mechanisation Debt. I’ll explain what happened. But the real BIGGIE, the one we await an angel to reveal, is the ZAMCO scam; debts that were transferred from banks to you the taxpayers!
Each day I’m checking if an angel who loves Zimbabweans has done the Lord’s work. The ZAMCO list would weigh better than gold. Zimbabweans deserve to know the elites whose debts they’re paying via ZAMCO. But we’re making progress.
I’ve previously explained how the RBZ Governor, Dr John Panonetsa Mangundya left CBZ in 2014 to his current role where he soon created ZAMCO to buy non-performing loans (NPLs) from banks. CBZ accounts for 61% of all NPLs sold to ZAMCO. Raises eyebrows in a big way!
I’ve now come across information showing that CBZ Asset Management Company, a subsidiary of @CBZHoldings applied to be an “independent advisor” to ZAMCO for the sale of NPLs. I’m yet to establish if it got the role. But if it did, this would be a massive CONFLICT OF INTEREST.
It would not only mean @CBZHoldings profited from selling its bad debts to ZAMCO but that it also made money from “advising” on the same sale through its subsidiary, CBZ Asset Management Company. Both @CBZHoldings & @ReserveBankZIM really need to clear this one.
The fact that CBZ Asset Management had the audacity to apply to “advise” ZAMCO, created by its former boss & that CBZ would go on to be the biggest seller of NPLs to ZAMCO is more than enough to attract any serious watchdog. But members of watchdogs are probably beneficiaries!
So I hope patriotic Zimbabweans who want to clean up their country of systemic corruption will be inspired to do the right thing. Something about ZAMCO is very murky. But the ZAMCO, CBZ and its asset management arm deserves more than a probe. It doesn’t look right.
More: Alex Magaisa on Twitter