adminexports proceeds not repatriated between 2006-2007, Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor Dr Gideon Gono has said.
Dr Gono told the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Budget, Finance and Investment Promotion this week there was “no political will” to bring the offenders to book.
He said there were cases in which the country was “done out of” between US$300 million and US$400 million in unremitted export earnings.
But it is believed substantial millions of dollars in export proceeds did not find their way into the country, as firms tried to beat the scourge of hyperinflation.
Evidence of this was contained in the findings of international mineral audit firm Alex Stewart, now suing the RBZ for unpaid work after it was commissioned to verify the value of exports between 2006 and 2007.
Initially, the aim was to determine how much the country could have lost and discuss this with the culprits with a view to recover outstanding dues or go to court and defend the Government’s position on the matter.
“Government decided it did not want to go to court and Alex Stewart said: ‘You do not want to go to court and recover your money? If that is the case, pay us (for carrying out the mineral audit)’,” said Dr Gono.
Alex Stewart’s findings detail the export quantity and value in the stated period as well as the names of the companies implicated in the scams.
The RBZ said there was no pointing carrying out the mineral audit if Government was not prepared to take the process to its logical conclusion.
Apparently, the arrangement was that the audit firm would be paid out of the funds recovered funds, as the prospects of success were very bright.
Similar measures were instituted in Tanzania, Sudan and Ghana with success. But since Government was unwilling to prosecute the offending firms, Alex Stewart resorted to the courts, demanding US$35 million as payment.
Alex Stewart threatened to claim US$120 million if the central bank failed to settle the US$35 million bill for the services rendered in 2008 and 2009.
The figure included default interest and the costs of the High Court lawsuit.
The RBZ had sought to have the case dismissed, arguing that the US firm had not given notice that it intended to sue, neither had it exhausted civil options.
Alex Stewart threatened to attach RBZ assets. But this is outlawed by the General Laws Amendment Act, signed into law by President Mugabe, as other creditors also prepared to attach properties of the apex bank.
There has always been general sentiment that mining firms were understating figures of production and exports to avoid the full repatriation of proceeds. This could have been rampant at the height of Zimbabwe’s economic malaise when mining firms received part of their export proceeds in Zimbabwean dollars.
Mining is considered strategic to the economic growth and development and accounts for about 50 percent of the country’s total annual exports.
Online Reporter