Karimanzira audit shows massive fraud

Karimanzira took over from Emmerson Mnangagwa in 2004 with a mandate to sort out the mess in the party’s finance department, amid allegations by General Solomon Mujuru and others that Mnangagwa had pilfered millions from the coffers.

Karimanzira did not live long enough to present his much-awaited report. On Sunday, party president Robert Mugabe confirmed that he had discussed the party’s shambolic finances with Karimanzira on the very day that he died. In a telling revelation, Mugabe said the two had agreed to transfer party funds to CBZ Bank the next day. Previously, the party used FBC Bank, in which it has a major stake. Mugabe did not say why the party wanted to change banks.

However, party sources told The Zimbabwean that Karimanzira’s ongoing audit had unearthed massive fraud in party companies. Last year the audit uncovered a multi-million dollar scandal at the party-owned Lobels, where the CEO, Burombo Mudhumo, was sacked after being accused of stealing $7 million.

In 2004, Mnangagwa was fired as finance secretary and demoted to the legal department after Mujuru said he was corrupt. Mujuru led an investigation, whose findings have been kept under wraps until now after Mugabe was sucked in as one of the two signatories of party cheques.

Mugabe had rewarded Mnangagwa with the powerful finance portfolio in the 1980s after he proved his loyalty by executing the Gukurahundi massacres in Matabeleland, where thousands of perceived Mugabe opponents were murdered. Mnangagwa set about building an octopus-like business empire spanning all sectors of the Zimbabwean economy, from banking to mining, motor vehicles to duty-free shops and airline catering.

Mnangagwa put the British-Indian Joshi brothers, Manharlal and Jayant, in charge of party companies like Zidco Holdings, M&S Syndicate and Zidlee Enterprises, which secured lucrative government contracts. The Joshis had a direct line to Mugabe and were reputed to deal ruthlessly with anyone who got in the way, including tax and customs officers who tried to investigate charges of tax evasion and smuggling by party companies.

However, when the Mujuru probe started, the Joshi brothers fled the country in a movie-style escape drama, Mnangagwa personally helping them to board their plane as police sirens wailed in the airport building. The failure by the police to arrest the Joshis left a deep void in the Mujuru investigation as they were directors in party companies like FBC Bank and Lobels, where funds are alleged to have disappeared without trace. Jostling for Karimanzira’s post has started but it is expected that Mugabe will handpick someone he can trust to keep his or her mouth shut about missing money.