ABOUT 350 000 diamond carats worth US$140 million vanished last year from the vaults of the country’s minerals marketing body, the Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe (MMCZ) as well as State-controlled gem mining company, the Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company (ZCDC).
According to a report by Auditor-General Mildred Chiri, the
diamonds remain unaccounted for up to now.
Normally, the country’s gems net between US$400 and US$12 000 per carat
at auctions.
Chiri’s report, which exposed malfeasance at local
authorities, parastatals and government departments, could be a tip of the
iceberg that probably corroborate late former President Robert Mugabe’s claim
that diamonds worth $15 billion were nicked by top government officials during
his tenure.
However, senior government officials rubbished Mugabe’s
claim as something “that just came out of his head” without evidence as he was
“senile”.
Chiri’s 2019 explosive report on ZMDC and MMCZ noted lax
accounting for diamond stocks, a deliberate move which she said officials left
unchecked so as to exploit the situation.
Some of the missing diamonds were sold for a song in
Zimbabwean dollars to local buyers, who smuggled them outside the country and
sold them at higher prices in foreign currency, the report said.
“In 2019, 297 660,41 carats of diamond stock held at MMCZ
was not counted at the time of the stock count. These parcels were packed for
customers and held at MMCZ. However, at year-end, during the stock count, these
stocks were not included in closing inventories.
“In 2018, 41 699,85 carats of diamond stocks held at MMCZ
were excluded from the stock count. It was assumed at the time that these
stocks had been sold to customers. An additional 13 222,85 carats were excluded
from the final stock sheet in error,” the report read in part.
Chiri’s report points to a well-choreographed looting
syndicate after five carats, which could have fetched plus or minus US$2 000,
held at the MMCZ vanished in December 2019 after a closed circuit television
system “malfunctioned”.
The Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Mines and Mining
Development has taken up the issue and on Monday pledged to probe the diamond
leakages.
Zimbabwe loses about US$1,5 billion million a year from
mineral leakages. Newsday
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