The documents also finger Jameson Timba, currently a top aide in Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s office. He was allegedly involved in the syndicate.
Repatriated maize
The money laundering scandal, which started in 2004, involved several Zanu (PF)-aligned businessmen buying grain locally and smuggling it into South Africa. The grain was then repatriated to Zimbabwe as an import to be sold on the local market.
According to the documents, Cecil Muderede, a farmer and businessman operating from Shankuru Estates in Banket, bought the grain using local currency and resold it in US dollars outside the country.
A paper trail indicates that the money was transferred into an account held by South African Industrial Commodity Holdings, before being deposited into a New York bank. It was then remitted to a South African company called Oakley Investments.
Muderede reportedly received sums of $30,000 at a time from the Oakley account but his relationship with the firm could not be immediately established.
The money was further transferred into a Luxembourg account reportedly controlled by James Makamba, a former Zanu (PF) heavyweight living in self-imposed exile after being fingered for externalisation of foreign currency. The money eventually ended up in Muderede’s pocket.
“This is clearly a money laundering operation,” the late Paul Sigauke, a former RBZ Senior Division Chief in charge of Exchange Control, said in a letter addressed to Joice Mujuru dated May 16, 2007.
Farmers conned
Part of the laundered money was used to buy thousands of kilogrammes of condemned fertiliser that was then sold to local farmers. At the time Muderede was said to have taken part in the grain scam with ICH, he had been specified in terms of the Prevention of Corruption Act for the externalisation of money.
Timba, who currently works in Tsvangirai’s office, reportedly used a shelf company called Woovenville to transfer part of the grain back to Zimbabwe. Financial transactions were made through a local merchant bank where one of his relatives was an influential figure.
Mugabe openly condemned the repatriation of maize at a meeting at State House on January 16, 2004.
“I am buying my own Zimbabwean maize with American dollars! This is the biggest money laundering scandal we have ever known in Zimbabwe,” Mugabe is reported to have said to high profile people including Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor, Gideon Gono.
High-level corruption
However, according to a source, Mugabe’s top lieutenants were involved.
“The level of corruption was a lot higher than His Excellency imagined,’’ said the highly placed source. It is possible that Mugabe might not have been aware that the money launderers enjoyed a close relationship with his deputies. Sigauke, for instance, said Msika could have played a pivotal role in protecting Muderede’s activities.
They both hailed from rural Chiweshe in Mashonaland Central, a province where Mujuru also comes from. Sigauke claims in his letter to Mujuru that Msika “approached Dr Gono on behalf of Cecil Mderede with a proposal that if Muderede paid back some of the laundered money, would this help his pending charges against him”. (sic).
“It was agreed that Cecil Mderede would be a free man and it opened the door for RBZ to do further business with Industrial Commodity Holdings in South Africa,” wrote Muderede.
Msika was also allegedly involved in attempts to secure Muderede against the Grain Marketing Board, a national cereal utility that was subsequently accused of approving the sale of the condemned fertiliser.
Msika is reported to have summoned a top GMB official to Parliament and ordered him to release Muderede’s maize when he was under investigation by the Criminal Investigations Department.
Muderede was arrested and detained in early 2004 on various counts of fraud and contravening the Exchange Control Regulations, Satutory Instrument 109/96, and the Grain Marketing Board Act, Chapter 18:14 for money and maize externalisation.
Timba denies all
While Msika’s involvement was partially revealed in our last edition, it has also emerged that Mujuru could have been involved in the money laundering scheme.
When contacted for a comment, Timba denied that he ever owned Woovenville, saying it belonged to his young brother, Stevenson.
“That company belongs to my young brother,” he told The Zimbabwean. However, one of our sources claimed that records of the company were removed from the Registrar of Companies with the help of influential politicians.
At one time, Sigauke visited Mujuru at her Chisipite home with a document detailing the money laundering scam. Mugabe was in Egypt on official business.
However, Mujuru simply promised to pass on the document to the president. However, according to a source, that never happened.
Muderede has viciously fought to clear his name regarding the money laundering deal.
Top cats involved
“High level police teams were involved in the case at one time and there was a call to include Interpol but all seems to have died down. That shows that top cats were involved,” said a source.
When The Zimbabwean contacted the Officer Commanding CID, Senior Assistant Commissioner Simon Nyathi, he referred questions to the CID Fraud Squad but pointed out that he was not aware of the state of the money laundering case or if Interpol had picked up the case.
Even though senior Fraud Squad officers granted The Zimbabwean an interview at Ahmed House in Harare, they refused to shed light on the matter.
“We have several records regarding Muderede, some of which are pending but the issue of money laundering is a sensitive one. I doubt if anyone in the police will tell you about such matters knowing they will be out in the press,” said one of the senior officers.
Efforts to get Mujuru’s side of the story were fruitless.
Post published in: News
Senior Assistant Commissioner Nyathi at Morris Depot is a liar and fully aware of the case of Woovenville as an afadavit was signed before the Senior Magistrate at Rotton Row, the report was then put into file 13 – However Jamison Timba name was on the document from Register of Companies that he was Managing Director of Woovenville and Stevenson Timba was registered as secretary – It is possible that Jamison was an innocent party and that there is evidence that Pattison Timba Managing Director of Rennisance Bank Harare maybe responsible for setting up Woovenville for Gideon Gono – on the Invoice for the corrupt fertliser Birrusa Corporation S.A. stated that Woovenville contact Harare landline number was for the bank that Pattinson Controlled, also the Invoice total on the commercial Invoice differed by US$2.55c per tonne that means that someone at RBZ was gaining US$2.55 for every tonne imported.
David Chapfika was Deputy Minister of Finance at the time of the investigation and he arranged the 3 meetings at Joyce Mujuru private home in Chisipite for Paul Sigauke, my uncle Paul was told by Mujuru to expect a call from His Excellency President Mugabe when he returned from Egypt – however betrayed her position and used the document to better her relationship with Dr Gono and unfortunately my Uncle died in unusual circumstances, Paul reported to his uncle Didymus Mutasa but Paul was not the Investigator.