A source privy to goings-on at RBZ told The Zimbabwean this week that the central bank’s Governor, Gideon Gono, in mid-March 2009 met with the then Chairman of ACC, Eric Harid, where the two agreed that members of the anti-graft unit should be given holiday allowances. Allowances ranging from $7,500 to $10,500 were paid to the ACC, which then comprised the following commissioners: Harid, Dr RF Wutawunashe, E Madzingira, BF Nhandara, A Nkomo, K Nyamwanza, C Khumalo, NAT Gumbo (Chief Executive Officer), E Mubataripi (General Manager) and S Tongogara, another General Manager. Harid has since been replaced by Denford Chirindo. “I was one of the people who vehemently opposed giving the commissioners allowances for several reasons. There was no basis for doing so. Also, remember the ACC was supposed to be investigating corruption and fraud at RBZ, so giving them allowances would always pass as a form of bribe.
“At that time I argued that the commissioners should not accept any gifts from the RBZ, and took Gono to task about it, but he would not budge. I strongly felt that the commission would be unduly influenced through the allowances,” said the source.
To make matters worse, he said, RBZ decided to hand out the allowances at a time banks and the country were going through a debilitating foreign currency crunch. The forex, he said, was raised through illegal purchases on the black market.
Gono has dismissed the claims. “Let the one who is making those claims go on with his truths, half-truths and fabrications as tarnishing people’s names and characters has become his full time pre-occupation. End of response,” said the governor via e-mail. The Zimbabwean has had sight of a letter signed by Gumbo, the CEO, which lends support to the claims made by our source. In the letter, dated 25 March 2009, addressed to Gono and date-stamped in the office of the Deputy Division Chief in charge of finance, Gumbo lists the amounts reportedly received by the commissioners.
“I refer to your meeting with Chairman AE Harid on 17 March 2009. Hereunder is the list of the Commission’s officials and the applicable allowances,” says the letter. It goes on to list the names and amounts. With the exception of the two General Managers (S Tongogara and E Mubataripi) who were allocated $7,500 each, all the other commissioners were supposed to be given $10,500 each.
In addition, a separate letter of notification, also signed by Gumbo and dated the same day, said Harid would get an extra $100, the same amount as 58 other investigators.
“I was unsettled by the fact that RBZ through the Governor had the leisure of dishing out allowances to the commissioners at a time when the bank was busy illegally seizing money from depositors,” added the source.
Gono presided over numerous quasi-fiscal activities for several years, among them swooping on foreign accounts held by individuals and institutions.
Recently, the High Court ruled that Gono acted illegally when he compelled banks to lodge their foreign currency accounts, which he subsequently raided, with the central bank, pointing out he had not sought the Finance Minister’s approval.
The ruling came after a challenge made by a Chinese company, China Shougang International, banking with Standard Chartered. High Court Judge, Francis Bere ordered RBZ to reimburse the company $47,789 that it raided from Standard Chartered in 2007.
Economist Eric Bloch, a former RBZ advisor, told The Zimbabwean that other victims of the forex raids might be encouraged to approach the courts to retrieve their money.
Chirindo, the current ACC Chairperson, professed ignorance over the allowances. He also declined to give details of the investigations that the ACC were carrying out at the time the commissioners were reportedly given allowances by the RBZ. Chirindo would not confirm or deny if the ACC was probing Gono.
“If we tell the media that we are investigating so or so, we would be sacrificing our investigations. We cannot tell you who we are investigating for purposes of integrity. You will know as soon as investigations are over,” he said. However, a former RBZ Chief Inspector, Joseph Banda, has since been jailed for four years by a magistrates’ court following up an ACC probe into the abuse of implements bought by the central bank and reports of impersonation.
Munyaradzi Kereke, a former advisor to Gono before the two fell out of favour and the former was fired, on Monday handed the ACC a dossier that contains a raft of claims of corrupt and fraudulent activities by Gono. Chirindo, again, declined to comment, saying the public would know in due course.
Kereke, who is currently embroiled in a rape case involving a minor, has also written a letter requesting to meet the Director General of the Central Intelligence Organisation, Happyton Bonyongwe to discuss his report to ACC and claims that he is being harassed by security operatives.
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