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Business Reporter

RESERVE Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor, Dr John Mangudya, has dismissed as false and malicious reports carried in a trailer of an unscreened documentary by the Qatar-based Al Jazeera television network purporting that the central bank is engaged in illicit gold dealings, corruption, and money laundering.

In a strong-worded statement, Dr Mangudya said it is gravely disturbing to note that the strange reports claim that “through the Bank, Government is using illicit ways as a scheme to bust international sanctions placed on political leaders and government entities”.

It is deeply concerning,  and the Apex Bank is disturbed by sensationally wild, false, and malicious media reports, carried in snippets of an unscreened Al Jazeera documentary, produced by the network’s Investigative Unit, purveying the impression that the Bank is “Southern Africa’s laundromat” or “Southern Africa’s laundry service” for an alleged African gold mafia involved in illicit gold dealings, corruption, and money laundering, said the governor.

The snippets cite a few boastful and name-dropping individuals, who neither work for nor represent the Bank in any capacity, as sources of the allegations, Dr Mangudya added.

“The outrageous reports quote one of the cited individuals as boasting that he has diplomatic cover to ‘fly dirty cash’ into Zimbabwe where it can be laundered through gold and other investments.

“Another individual is reported to have asserted that there is an opportunity, a hell of a big opportunity to wash money here [in Zimbabwe]. Yet another self-serving claim is that one individual bragged that his phone ‘is on speed dial’ with the Bank’s Governor. These are all false and malicious allegations,” said the RBZ boss.