Temba Mliswa has demanded that the Government issue a statement and clear the air on the various allegations raised by the Al Jazeera documentary, Gold Mafia.
The Gold Mafia documentary is a four-part investigation by Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit (I-Unit) which was aired over a four-week period.
Mliswa, an independent MP (Norton), argued that the Government should state its position as many explanations have been given by officials who were caught on camera incriminating themselves and also name-dropping in front of undercover journalists. Said Mliswa:
The Gold Mafia issue has become the prime topic and I think Gvt should come out with a statement on its position.
There have been many accounts flying around. This has created more confusion and cemented the perception that there are more shady deals occurring.
First, there were stories about sanctions-busting; then RBZ said gold isn’t under sanctions and now we hear that it was all an intelligence operation, yet some accounts were reportedly frozen.
Clearly, there is a need for a statement from Gvt stating which is which.
This is why I also stated that authorities should have waited for the completion of the documentary before giving statements to avoid a scenario like this one.
Now we have a sea of narratives opposing each other and some lacking the slightest iota of sense they are simply dubious!
The documentary exposed an alleged series of gold smuggling gangs in Southern Africa that help criminals launder hundreds of millions of dollars.
The gang members get rich while plundering their nations and keeping millions in abject poverty.
They use gold to turn dirty cash into clean, seemingly legitimate money for those with large amounts of unaccounted wealth.
The criminals do so by using a complex web of companies, counterfeit identities and fake documents.
One of the central figures in the documentary is Zimbabwe’s Ambassador at Large and Presidential Envoy to Europe and the Americas, Uebert Angel.
Angel allegedly offered to launder cash into the country using his diplomatic status and was secretly recorded boasting about his close relations with Mnangagwa and how much power he wields as a result.
His assets were recently frozen by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe’s Financial Intelligence Unit.
Angel, however, claims his words and actions filmed by Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit (I-Unit), were staged and a classified national intelligence operation.
Addressing journalists in Harare on Friday soon after the final episode of the Gold Mafia documentary titled “Have The King With You”, was aired, Angel’s lawyer Lovemore Madhuku, said his client was working with national intelligence.
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