HARARE - An exiled Zimbabwean businessman who says his bank was illegally seized from him by the government in 2004 has managed to use an internet campaign to block a major financial institution from buying the disputed asset. Gilbert Muponda fled the country after a controversial crackdown in the financial sector saw his ENG Capital Limited taken over by the government. At the time he said ENG owned 52 per cent of CFX Bank (formerly Century Bank). But this year one of the world’s biggest banks, Credit Suisse, through the
Finance Bank of Zambia sought to buy the struggling CFX Bank. Using an aggressive internet campaign dubbed ‘Return Muponda’s Bank’ the young businessman made enough noise to scare Credit Suisse from the deal. Internet banners picked up by Google and letters and articles circulated online were enough to discourage the deal from going through. “I was put in jail, denied food, criminalised and tortured just so they could take my company and now you have a reputable international bank trying to buy it,” he fumed. Currently Interfin, a company Muponda says is owned by Zanu (PF) politicians aligned to the Mujuru faction is trying to buy the disputed bank. Muponda’s lawyers Gutu and Chikowero Attorney’s have already written to Interfin advising them of Muponda’s claim to CFX Bank.
Muponda meanwhile has called for a Commission of Inquiry into the seizure of several banks done almost six years ago under a crackdown led by Reserve bank governor Gideon Gono. While over three banks, including Trust Bank, Royal Bank and Barbican have been returned to their previous owners, Muponda says he has had no such luck. “Charges against me have not been proven in court, but my bank was still taken,” he said.
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