Econet bosses held on forex charges

Econet bosses held on forex charges

ECONET boss Strive Masiyiwa

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By Brian Mangwende and Constantine Chimakure

ZIMBABWEAN police on Wednesday arrested Econet Wireless Zimbabwe chief executive officer, Douglas Mboweni and executive director customer services and billing, John Pattison on allegations of foreign currency externalisation.

Also arrested was the business executives’ lawyer, Anthony Eastwood, who had gone to the fraud squad to represent them.

The arrest of the three comes a day after another mobile phone firm, Telecel Zimbabwe chairman James Makamba, was nabbed at the Harare International Airport “aboard a Johannesburg bound-plane” on fresh charges for breaching exchange control and Zimbabwe Investment Centre regulations.

Two other Telecel executives – managing director Anthony Carter and finance director Edward Mutsvairo – were also arrested on Tuesday night and detained at Avondale and Rhodesville police stations respectively on externalisation charges. By the time of going to print, Makamba was said to be still in custody at Highlands Police Station.

Police national spokesperson Wayne Bvudzijena confirmed yesterday that Mboweni had been arrested, but was not sure of Pattison and Eastwood’s arrests.

“We have arrested Mboweni. I do not know about the arrest of the two others you referred to,” Bvudzijena said. “At the moment, I cannot give you any further details as our investigations are still underway.”

Bvudzijena said the three Telecel bosses were still in police custody and would be taken to court once the investigations were through. Speaking to The Daily Mirror while in detention at the Fraud Squad in the capital, Eastwood said: “Mboweni was arrested at around 3am on Wednesday and up to now they have not formally charged him. I was also arrested and accused of being guilty of externalisation when I went to inquire on what was happening,” claimed Eastwood, a consultant with law firm Kantor and Immerman.

“I told then that that’s rubbish. I am going to sue them. Pattison was also arrested. We were told that we were being charged with separate sections of the exchange control regulations. They (police) have told us that they had received orders from their superiors to pursue Econet without delay. But the police are being perfectly polite.”

Speaking from the same room, Pattison said: “I have been brought in for questioning. I have no idea what this is all about. They picked me up at out headquarters in Msasa and I am just sitting wondering what this is all about.”

Sources at the Strive Masiyiwa-owned Econet told The Daily Mirror that Mboweni joined the firm in 1996 and was part of the team that launched the Mascom Wireless network in Botswana and Econet Wireless Nigeria (EWN) in Nigeria.

Pattison was Econet’s National Services Manager from 1998 to 2003 when he was appointed executive director for customer services and billing. Econet Wireless is the largest GSM mobile operator in Zimbabwe with the largest market share of cellular subscribers.

The company launched its GSM mobile network on 10 July 1998 after a five-year legal battle to win a license, which was eventually awarded by the High Court on 31 December 1997 after the intervention of the late Vice- President Joshua Nkomo.
Daily Mirror
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