Mpofu tells court source of wealth

via Mpofu tells court source of wealth 06 October 2014

OBERT Mpofu, one of Zimbabwe’s richest cabinet ministers, told the High Court Monday that his wealth came from wise investment of a golden handshake he received after leaving a company owned by Zanu PF in the 1980s.

According to the RBZ, Mpofu also paid about US$23 million to take over a struggling commercial bank in 2012 which however, now teeters on the brink of collapse.

Speaking at the High Court in a diamond fraud case in which he is accused of demanding a US$10 million bribe, Mpofu said there was nothing dodgy about the manner in which he accumulated his wealth.

He revealed that he was managing director of the Zanu PF-owned Tregers Holdings in the 1980s and received a healthy pay-off when he left the company.

The cash was, beginning 1989 and over the following years, invested in a property acquisition spree in Bulawayo and Victoria Falls.

“I worked in Government for a few years until 1985 when I joined Tregers as a managing director. Tregers was a big company and I was offered shares in the firm,” Mpofu told the court.

“In 1989, when I left Tregers, I was given a golden handshake, which I used to acquire properties and have never looked back.

He added: “I am one of the biggest ranchers with 4 000 head of cattle,” he said. “I am also leasing CSC (Cold Storage Commission) farms.”

Mpofu refused to disclose the value of his properties but said he was doing well enough not to need the US$10 million bribe he is said to have demanded from two mining executives accused of fleecing the government of about US$2 billion in a failed diamond mining deal.