https://www.miningweekly.com

Missing $15bn diamond revenue – 'It's all lies,' says Mugabe

17th April 2018

By: News24Wire

  

Font size: - +

Zimbabwe's former president Robert Mugabe has retracted his remarks over the alleged missing $15-billion diamond revenue amid investigations by the national assembly, according to a report.

In a claim that's coming back to haunt him, the former Zimbabwe strongman said in 2016 that $15-billion worth of diamonds were spirited out of Marange, the dusty fields more than four hours’ drive from Harare.

Mugabe, according to AFP, was now set to be summoned to testify before a parliamentary committee that was investigating the looting.

The lawmakers planned to question Mugabe over his 2016 claim that the country had lost $15-billion in income from diamonds due to corruption and foreign exploitation, said the report.

Mugabe - whose own regime was accused of siphoning off the diamond profits - was ousted last November after a military takeover that ushered his former deputy, Emmerson Mnangagwa, to power.

But, in a dramatic twist last week, the veteran politician told the privately owned Zimbabwe Independent that the "whole $15-billion loot was an urban legend that had no factual basis".

He said the claim was just a figure that was given to him by some government official at the time.

"It was just a figure. I was given that by some officials, that figure had been circulating around, but really it was not confirmed; it was just a story and there was that figure involved," Mugabe was quoted as saying.

This came after several senior government officials were also summoned to give evidence before the committee.

The privately owned NewsDay newspaper reported that the mines and energy portfolio committee which was chaired by independent lawmaker, Temba Mliswa, had summoned Vice President Kembo Mohadi – a state security minister at the time -  finance minister Patrick Chinamasa and former police boss Augustine Chihuri to give evidence before it.

Other senior officials who were summoned to appear before the commission were the current Police Commissioner-General Godwin Matanga, home affairs ministry secretary, Melusi Matshiya, and his defence counterpart, Martin Rushwaya.

Edited by News24Wire

Comments

The content you are trying to access is only available to subscribers.

If you are already a subscriber, you can Login Here.

If you are not a subscriber, you can subscribe now, by selecting one of the below options.

For more information or assistance, please contact us at subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za.

Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):

Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format

Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):

All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.

Already a subscriber?

Forgotten your password?

MAGAZINE & ONLINE

SUBSCRIBE

RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA

SUBSCRIBE

CORPORATE PACKAGES

CLICK FOR A QUOTATION