via How to Rob Africa -People Power- Al Jazeera English – YouTube A film by Stanley Kwenda, Clive Patterson and Anas Aremeyaw Anas
25 minutes worth of essential viewing on YouTube
The world’s wealthy countries often criticise African nations for corruption – especially that perpetrated by those among the continent’s government and business leaders who abuse their positions by looting tens of billions of dollars in national assets or the profits from state-owned enterprises that could otherwise be used to relieve the plight of some of the world’s poorest peoples.
Yet the West is culpable too in that it often looks the other way when that same dirty money is channelled into bank accounts in Europe and the US.
International money laundering regulations are supposed to stop the proceeds of corruption being moved around the world in this way, but it seems the developed world’s financial system is far more tempted by the prospect of large cash injections than it should be.
Indeed the West even provides the getaway vehicles for this theft, in the shape of anonymous off-shore companies and investment entities, whose disguised ownership makes it too easy for the corrupt and dishonest to squirrel away stolen funds in bank accounts overseas.
This makes them nigh on impossible for investigators to trace, let alone recover.
It is something that has long bothered Zimbabwean journalist Stanley Kwenda – who cites the troubling case of the Marange diamond fields in the east of his country.
A few years ago rich deposits were discovered there which held out the promise of billions of dollars of revenue that could have filled the public purse and from there have been spent on much needed improvements to roads, schools and hospitals.
The surrounding region is one of the most impoverished in the country, desperate for the development that the profits from mining could bring. But as Kwenda found out from local community leader Malvern Mudiwa, this much anticipated bounty never appeared.
“When these diamonds came, they came as a God-given gift. So we thought now we are going to benefit from jobs, infrastructure, we thought maybe our roads were going to improve, so that generations and generations will benefit from this, not one individual. But what is happening, honestly, honestly it’s a shame!”
What is happening is actually something of a mystery because though the mines are clearly in operation and producing billions of dollars worth of gems every year, little if any of it has ever been put into Zimbabwe’s state coffers.
Local and international non-governmental organisations say they believe this is because the money is actually being used to maintain President Robert Mugabe’s ruling Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) in power.
True or not, it is clear that the country’s finance minister, Tendai Biti, has seen none of it. A representative of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, which sits in uneasy coalition with ZANU-PF, he says he has no idea where it is going.
“We have got evidence of the quantities that are being mined, the quantities that are being exported but nothing is coming to the fiscus …. All I know is that it’s not coming to the treasury. So that is a self-evident question. It is not coming to us. That means someone is getting it. The person who is getting it is not getting it legally. Therefore, he’s a thief, therefore she’s a thief.”
Sadly, as Stanley Kwenda has realised, it is typical of a problem found all over Africa.
The continent is rich is natural resources that are being exploited for big profits, but the money is rarely used for the benefit of the people. Instead it goes to line the pockets of corrupt officials who then often smuggle it out to be deposited in secret offshore bank accounts in the developed world.
So who facilitates these transactions? And how and why does the developed world make it so easy to launder this dirty cash?
In this revealing investigation for People & Power, Kwenda and the Ghanaian undercover journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas, set off to find out. Posing as a corrupt Zimbabwean official and his lawyer, their probe takes them deep into the murky world of ‘corporate service providers’ – experts in the formation of company structures that allow the corrupt to circumvent lax international money laundering rules.
It just so happens that the pair’s enquiries take place in the Seychelles but, as they discover to their horror, they could just as easily be in any one of a number of offshore locations (or even in the major cities of Europe and the US) where anonymous companies can be set up for the express purpose of secretly moving money and keeping its origins hidden from prying eyes.
COMMENTS
Interesting clip.The rot is not only in Africa.
Jail for the corrupt!
Its easy to Rob Africa when Africa’s leaders are so corrupt. China has known this for decades and prefers working with dictatorships where they can get natural resources for rock bottom prices
Apart from corrupt African people being implicated in this video, the clip also shows how cooperative and collaborative white people and westerners can be when there is something good in it for them. They hide behind the names of corporate social responsibility, good governance and democracy meanwhile they get involved in dirty deals behind closed doors. Such hypocrites!!
@Priscilla.Its good that comment came from you.
Murimi is a marked man
Yes! Corruption and greed are everywhere. And that is why God has a controversy with the nations. Colour is not the issue but the state of the heart before God! We can begin to clean up Zimbabwe by asking ourselves the question, “What part have I or do I play in the destruction and rot in my nation?
The robbing of Africa will continue , what do you think will stop that , talk !!!!! Let me tell you otherwise you are wasting my time , i should have joined those already in the fields as this is the rain season , the job must be done —–I am a member of MDC T , today i have to tell you that indigenisation is the main solution to the issue of being robbed of our precious stones . I support good initiatives from ZANU PF like indigenisation . Today Chinese are free operating arround the country is that not robbing us ???????????
Exploitation , exploitation , and our people not benefiting , but Westerns Asians has benefited –APPLY indigenisation so that we will share with them , don’t keep on telling me about ZANU PF being corrupt a solution will come to kick them out of that act come 2018 , but put measures in place , how do we secure our resources from being exploited , we need to share , and how do we do that apart from indigenisation –MDC T must i through away my membership and go back to the bush or to ZANU PF , yes this is the problem that you have identified ,what is the solution apart from simple attacking ZANU PF by alleging that they are corrupt , lets come out with constructive criticism , lets wake up our brains , we don’t need to be empty vessels , what we need mostly are solutions not childish and just mere criticising .
It is a sad situation when some of us think the solution is ‘if you can’t beat them then join them’ by supporting the disastrous indigenisation policy. Let’s give genuine support to SME’s & informal traders who have proved their worth under very trying circumstances. Stealing 51% of what someone else has worked for cannot work. Like the failed land reform this will become self evident in the not too distant future. Assist us with skills development, marketing, financial planning & control etc and we will thrive as our brothers & sisters have done around the world.
@Saddened.Those bros & sisters hav their resources in their own hands,& bonus ones held in other people’s lands.
Ok,the land reform has failed,whats the plan?bring back who?
We will go back to the same thing.exploitation & externalisation
Recently several MPs from Labor and the Conservative parties in the United Kingdom were convicted and jailed for defrauding the taxpayer by claiming allowances for houses that they did not live in. Why I bring this up is because one of our Brothers who claimed he is a marked man commented with to a comment made by @ Priscilla. We all know that corruption is all over the world. Crime does not choose a particular country . There are con-men Robbers, thieves and corrupt all over this world. The difference being in other countries when they are caught they face the full wrath of the law without favor. In Zimbabwe it depends who the offender is. So Priscilla you are not telling us anything new. Zanu pf supps wines and dines with these corrupt individuals.
Saddened , you really misinterpret the word indigenisation and mix it up with stealing , this word indigenisation had been existing ever since in the field of economics , our neighbouring countries have taken the same direction and they have benefited , its not nationalisation or stealing , the government never said the companies must give away 51% freely to the indigenous people of Zimbabwe , but the companies must release this share to those indigenous people willing to buy (you can be a group from the community raise some funds and buy some shares that you can afford eg 20% shares ,you can be club raise some funds and buy shares that you can afford from those companies , you can be an individual with your own funds and buy the shares that you can afford from those companies , please open up your eyes and see things better ) , its not about grapping shares as you always think of ZANU grapping the land , according to you Sir as a citzen of the country since you are against indigenisation what do you think must be done solely to get us secured from this exploitation of our resources ? , what measures can we implement to replace indigenisation ? , we can’t let expoitors take away our resources freely that doesn’t benefit me and you .
@Khaya’bonina my heart tells me that most of the Policies that are introduced by this Government even for arguments sake if they are genuine are soon Hijacked by the very same members of this regime and it’s supporters that are in high places. Look at the land distribution the ordinary farmers were given pieces of land. The established farms with farm houses were taken by the Mliwas and co.
How many ordinary Zimbabweans are going to have shares in these companies? We are likely to see these boards dominated by the Chiyangwas and Mandiwanziras and co. But then again I might be wrong. Only time will tell. For now we watch and wait.
And the Chinese I forgot to add.