Mawere, NMB directors' assets frozen

Mawere, NMB directors' assets frozen

SPECIFIED: Mawere

• Mawere gets R50 000 bail

• Mawere arrested by Interpol in SA

• Makamba repatriates externalised forex

• Court thwarts Makamba's freedom bid

• Makamba released, rearrested

• Makamba faces 22 forex offences

• Makamba arrested

By Staff Reporter

ZIMBABWEAN business mogul Mutumwa Mawere's assets have been frozen by the Zimbabwe government after attempts to extradite him from South Africa to face trial failed.

Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa invoked the Prevention of Corruption Act to declare Mawere a 'specified' individual alongside three NMB Bank executives who fled the country in March and are now believed to be living in the UK.

The declaration, announced through a government gazette on Friday, listed NMB directors Julius Makoni, James Mushore and Francis Zimuto as specified. The government said it had failed to bring them to trial on charges of 'externalising' foreign currency worth Zim$30 billion.

Mawere, who has taken South African citizenship is wanted to answer charges of defrauding the State of over Zim$300 billion through a complicated networking of his companies in Zimbabwe and South Africa.

Efforts to extradite him failed after a South African magistrate dismissed an application by Zimbabwean police for more time to investigate corruption allegations against him while he was on bail.

Zimbabwean authorities say Mawere under-invoiced asbestos exports through his company, Southern Asbestos Sales in Johannesburg. This was after the Zimbabwean government exempted asbestos from having to be sold through the parastatal Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe.

Mawere recently slammed Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono for "displaying venom" in his duties. He blames Gono for leading the anti-graft crusade which has seen top government officials and leading businessmen arrested on corruption charges.

"Whose interests are being served by this crusade is not clear. What is clear though is that it is destroying the foundations of black business in Zimbabwe and replacing them with a RBZ governor who wants to be chief executive of Zimbabwe Inc," railed Mawere.

Mawere, one of Zimbabwe's richest businessmen, gained prominence in the mid-1990s after he bought the country's largest asbestos mining conglomerate, Shabani/Mashava Mines, which is part of the huge Africa Resources Ltd, with a sovereign guarantee

Mawere's business empire which has tentacles in almost all important sectors of the economy includes Africa Associated Mines. He also has confirmed interests in eight listed companies, General Beltings, Steelnet, Turnall, Fidelity Life, Zimre, Nicoz Diamond, CFI Holdings and First Bank. His firm Ukubambana/Kubatana Investments (UKI) also has large stakes in other listed companies.

In 1996, Mawere - who had previously worked for the International Finance Corporation, an arm of the World Bank - teamed up with the ruling party to start one of Zimbabwe's major banks, the First Banking Corporation.

He recently paid more than R7-million to acquire a 60 percent stake in the plush Kilimanjaro nightclub in Johannesburg.

Until recently, Mawere was considered President Mugabe's closest business crony. He is also a blue-eyed boy of Zimbabwe's Speaker of Parliament Emmerson Mnangagwa whose influence has waned in recent weeks after Zanu PF instituted a probe into it's own companies which have been under Mnangagwa's management.
Additional reporting Dumisani Muleya
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