THE Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) is still investigating MDC-A vice president Mr Tendai Biti over allegations he instructed the National Social Security Authority (NSSA) to deposit over US$30 million into two banks which later collapsed.
During his time as Finance Minister (2009-13), Biti
reportedly directed NSSA to deposit the funds, which were secured from
continental lender Afreximbank (African Export-Import Bank), into Interfin
Merchant Bank and Renaissance Bank on separate occasions and under unclear
circumstances.
At the time, Renaissance Bank was understood to be in
distress. He is also accused of instructing the banks to give the money to
specific clients who were linked to members of a certain political party.
ZACC spokesperson Commissioner John Makamure told The
Sunday Mail that investigators are pursuing the case.
“The matter is under investigation and we will make details
available once we have completed the investigations,” he said briefly.
The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) placed Renaissance Bank
under curatorship in 2011 after a probe revealed serious failings, including
inadequate capitalisation, inappropriate structure and poor corporate
governance.
In 2014, NSSA general manager Mr James Matiza told the
Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Public Accounts that Mr Biti directed the
pension fund to sink US$20 million into the troubled Renaissance Bank despite
indications the project was not viable.
He said NSSA turned down two requests by Renaissance
Financial Holdings Limited’s majority shareholder, Mr Patterson Timba — brother
to former MDC-T secretary for external relations Mr Jameson Timba — to get the
authority to invest in his bank.
Mr Matiza was responding to findings by the Auditor-General
Mildred Chiri in her 2012 report, which unearthed several irregularities in
NSSA’s financial affairs. NSSA, he said,
eventually invested in the bank after Mr Biti directed the authority to bail
out the troubled institutions. Sunday Mail
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