Tuesday, November 15, 2005

Mugabe's revenge or corruption plain and simple?

A few weeks ago I said:

For the second time, Gideon Gono has stuck his head out and thrashed Mugabe’s policies. Any ZANU PF internal divisions should be welcome; however, he is risking a lot. Does he know something we don’t?

Earlier he had declared:

"The invasions are totally unacceptable and should be stopped forthwith by whoever is doing it," Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono told the privately-owned weekly Zimbabwe Independent. "Those invading farms are now criminals," he said.

He was risking all right:

Zimbabwe central bank chief Gideon Gono has been sucked into a scandal in which Finance Minister Herbert Murerwa and chief government revenue collector, Gershem Pasi, are alleged to have swindled the state of millions of dollars in foreign currency. ZimOnline first revealed two months ago that police were probing Murerwa and Pasi over allegations that the two illegally converted to personal use tax money collected in hard cash from foreign motorists entering Zimbabwe mainly from South Africa through Beitbridge border post. Authoritative sources said the police had now widened their investigations to include Gono who they believe assisted Murerwa and Pasi to siphon the state funds when he was chief executive officer of the Commercial Bank of Zimbabwe (CBZ) before his appointment as governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ).

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