At the height of a decade-long economic meltdown that started in 2000, the RBZ assumed the role of the Ministry of Finance, with Governor Gideon Gono arguing that it was necessary to do so in order to save Zimbabwe from economic collapse in the face of targeted sanctions.
A management report done by auditors BDO Kudenga and Co for the year ended 31 December 2008, reveals one instance of the abuses of the mechanisation scheme, and indicates that Bank officials could have prejudiced the bank of close to $2million through the purported purchase of generators.
According to the auditors, RBZ made payments to a supplier called Trade Access for the supply of the generators, but “the quantities received…do not match the quantities ordered as per invoice” and “the difference could not be explained”.
When the auditors asked the bank to provide a reconciliation it emerged that, in most cases, there were shortfalls that a highly placed source said had not been accounted for to date.
Records show that RBZ ordered a total of 200 40 KVA Kipor Diesel generators at a unit price of US$20,000, but none were delivered even though payment was claimed to have been made.
This prejudiced the bank of $4million. It lost a further US$378,000 when it ordered 400 20KVA Kipor generators, of which only 20 were received at a purchase price of $7,000 per unit.
According to our source, in order to cover up for the fraud, officials connived to buy large amounts of smaller generators, such as the 10KVA Kipor and 5.5KVA Amec generators, but a close analysis of the figures still shows a loss of US$1.77million.
The auditors reported highlighted this as “potential for fraud” and recommended that RBZ should reconcile the matter with the supplier. RBZ management had promised to investigate the transactions with Trade Access, but, according to our source, the recommendation has not been followed to date.
Gono did not respond to questions sent to him four weeks ago, even though his senior personal assistant acknowledged that he had seen them, while Trade Access could not be traced for a comment.
Gono has routinely insisted that he conducted business at RBZ aboveboard, even though he has ducked appearing before the Parliamentary Finance Portfolio Committee to answer to allegations of corruption and fraud during the quasi-fiscal period.
Munyaradzi Kereke, Gono’s former advisor, has approached the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission with a 23-page dossier detailing alleged corruption at the RBZ.
Excessive borrowing
In the dossier dated 8 October 2012, Kereke projects that Gono could have offset the collapse of banks through excessive borrowing from them, and accuses him of abusing his office by bringing pressure on the financial institutions to lend him the money.
“Gono is the Governor of Zimbabwe’s Central Bank. By excessively borrowing from almost every other bank, he directly undermined his independence and objectivity in supervising them,” stated Kererke.
He said two banks Gono borrowed from, Rennaissance and Interfin, “virtually collapsed…on the back of bad loans” and challenged the governor to “produce the list of assets he used to serve as collateral for the $40million plus borrowings from the banks”. The Constitution explicitly bars anyone who fails to repay borrowed loans from holding public office.
Kereke also alleges that RBZ wrote off $6.5million that it was defrauded of by a company called Saltlakes, owned by Temba Mliswa. The case was reported to the police under reference number CID Homicide Harare DR 15/07/10, but is reported to have been parked.
A document in our possession indicates that Senior Assistant Commissioner Simon Nyathi, the Officer Commanding Criminal Investigation Department, on 8 September 2011 wrote to Gono querying the manner in which RBZ had handled the Saltlakes case.
According to Nyathi, Saltlakes borrowed the $6.5 million from RBZ through a Memorandum of Deposit in 2009. He allegedly purchased tobacco from farmers but subsequently tried to avoid repaying the loan by claiming that the tobacco had been spoilt by moisture. In his letter, Nyathi quizzed Gono on why RBZ was dealing directly with Mliswa even though arrangements had been made for the repayment to be done through CBZ, a bank in which Gono has an interest.
“Why was communication from RBZ… being directed to Saltlakes and not through the CBZ Bank who had been given the responsibility of managing the day-to-day aspects of the facility?” queried Nyathi.
He further probed: “Would the RBZ write off the amount owed in this behalf (sic) and if so, under what circumstances?” and wondered why Gono had okayed a loan to a private individual using public funds.
The Finance Portfolio Committee has indicated that it still intends to probe Gono, despite the Governor apparently enjoying backing from a powerful clique in Zanu (PF).
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