Exiled former ZANU PF Politburo member Jonathan Moyo has said it is wrong to label Cleopas Chidodo, David Chirozvi, Mehluli Dube and Fredrik Kunaka as “Gold Mafia suspects”.
This comes after the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) froze the assets of Chidodo, Chirozvi, Dube and Kunaka, for alleged involvement in gold smuggling, money laundering, bribery and other corrupt activities.
Posting on Twitter, Moyo said the four individuals are mere enablers, or “Gold Mafia Pikininis”.
He said what Chidodo said in incriminating himself is nothing compared to what the likes of Uebert Angel, Henrietta Rushwaya, Ewan MacMillan and Kamlesh Pattni said in the documentary. Wrote Moyo:
Save that it is a misnomer to call Cleopas Chidodo, David Chirozvi, Mehluli Dube and Fredrik Kunaka, “Gold Mafia suspects”.
Far from it, none of these suspects are the “Gold Mafia”, as captured in the Al Jazeera documentary; rather at worst they can best be described as “Gold Mafia Enablers” or “Gold Mafia Pikininis”; otherwise they are all very important key “Gold Mafia Witnesses”.
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.
For example, Ambassador Plenipotentiary Uebert Angel said he owns and runs something called Billion Group, which facilitates gold smuggling and money laundering.
There is no reason for not freezing the assets of the Ambassador’s Billion Group, given what he says about it in the documentary!
… NB: While someone like Cleopas Chidodo incriminated himself in the documentary, the same cannot be said of Mehluli Dube or Fredrik Kunaka, whose assets have been frozen, who do not feature in the documentary.
But, even so, the way Cleopas Chidodo incriminated himself in the documentary is nothing compared to how the likes of Ambassador Plenipotentiary Uebert Angel, Henrietta Rushwaya, Ewan MacMillan and Kamlesh Pattni go to town to incriminate themselves with reckless abandon in the documentary, as if they were in some competition to prove who is the most criminal than the rest, in gold smuggling and money laundering!
Chidodo is the Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe Head of Security. He appeared in Episode 2 of the documentary explaining how he assists gold smugglers avoid detection at the Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport.
Chirozvi is the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe’s Aurex Jewellery Head of Finance.
Kunaka is the General Manager of Fidelity Printers and Refiners. He told the undercover reporters that he received a kickback of US$30 000 a month from the “Gold Mafia”.
Dube, who is associated with Golden Beryl Private Limited, was allegedly being paid US$3 000 per month by the gold smuggling syndicate.
Uebert Angel, Henrietta Rushwaya, Ewan Macmillan and Kamlesh Pattni were featured in Episode One of the Gold Mafia documentary.
According to Al Jazeera, Kamlesh Pattni aka “Brother Paul” was born in Kenya and knows better than anyone how to smuggle gold worth millions of dollars — and get away with it.
He told undercover reporters that he could help them launder more than US$100 million, saying “I don’t know how you came to me, but I think God must have sent you.”
Angel was appointed a special envoy and ambassador-at-large to Europe and the Americas by President Emmerson Mnangagwa in 2021.
He offered to Al Jazeera’s undercover reporters that he could use his diplomatic cover to carry millions of dirty cash into Zimbabwe as part of a laundering operation also involving gold smuggling.
Rushwaya is the person whom Angel and his personal assistant Rikki Doolan get in touch with when they want to discuss buying gold for their laundering scam.
Macmillan aka Mr. Gold was first jailed for gold smuggling in the early 1990s when he was just 21 years old.
More: Pindula News