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RESERVE Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor, Dr John Mangudya, has dismissed as false and malicious reports carried in a trailer of an unscreened documentary by the Qatar-based Al Jazeera television network purporting that the central bank is engaged in illicit gold dealings, corruption, and money laundering.
In a strong-worded statement yesterday, Dr Mangudya said it is gravely disturbing to note that the strange reports claim that “through the Bank, Government is using illicit ways as a scheme to bust international sanctions placed on political leaders and government entities”.
It is deeply concerning, and the Apex Bank is disturbed by sensationally wild, false, and malicious media reports, carried in snippets of an unscreened Al Jazeera documentary, produced by the network’s Investigative Unit, purveying the impression that the Bank is “Southern Africa’s laundromat” or
“Southern Africa’s laundry service” for an alleged African gold mafia involved in illicit gold dealings, corruption, and money laundering, said the governor.
The snippets cite a few boastful and name-dropping individuals, who neither work for nor represent the Bank in any capacity, as sources of the allegations, Dr Mangudya added.
“The outrageous reports quote one of the cited individuals as boasting that he has diplomatic cover to ‘fly dirty cash’ into Zimbabwe where it can be laundered through gold and other investments.
“Another individual is reported to have asserted that there is an opportunity, a hell of a big opportunity to wash money here [in Zimbabwe]. Yet another self-serving claim is that one individual bragged that his phone ‘is on speed dial’ with the Bank’s Governor. These are all false and malicious allegations,” said RBZ boss.
Dr Mangudya said it is unbelievable that such bizarre claims have been elevated to gospel truths and published with reckless abandon.
He added that the central bank is not a sanctioned entity and there are no sanctions on Zimbabwean exports and imports to warrant Zimbabwe to circumvent international sanctions through illicit trade in gold.
“It is particularly strange that the reports claim that through the Bank, Government is using illicit ways as a scheme to bust international sanctions placed on political leaders and government entities,” said Dr Mangudya.
“The Bank is not a sanctioned entity, and the cited individuals are not sanctioned persons either. There are no sanctions on Zimbabwean exports and imports, including trade in gold, to warrant Zimbabwe to circumvent international sanctions through illicit trade in gold.
“As such, the claim that there is ‘a scheme to bust international sanctions using illicit ways’ shows beyond doubt that the peddlers of this narrative have a sinister agenda with nefarious objectives of tarnishing both the Bank and the Republic of Zimbabwe,” he added.
What is even more worrying, disappointing, and deplorable is that the scurrilous allegations claim that Zimbabweans are at the forefront of spreading malicious falsehoods about the Bank and the country, said the governor.
Curiously, Dr Mangudya said the leaked snippets of the unscreened documentary omit the Bank’s responses to 32 questions Al Jazeera Investigative Unit posed to the Bank in connection with the allegations.
He said in the spirit of transparency and social responsibility, the central bank responded to all the 32 questions in detail on 27 February 2023 and the responses showed that the narrative, so far purveyed, is nothing but false.
“The Bank is disappointed that either Al Jazeera Investigative Unit has not included the Bank’s responses in the information they have leaked to or shared with their selected media houses and journalists, or the concerned journalists have elected to ignore the Bank’s responses and only published the fake allegations in a malicious pursuit of a hidden agenda, unknown to the Bank or Al Jazeera,” said Dr Mangudya.
To that end, the central bank reserves its rights to take appropriate legal action or initiate necessary sanctions against the interviewees and purveyors of the fake news to protect its fiduciary responsibilities in the national interests, he said.
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