Source: Counterfeit bond notes printed | The Herald November 4, 2016
Bianca Mlilo Bulawayo Bureau—
UNSCRUPULOUS characters have started printing fake bond notes which they plan to coincidentally release when the real bond notes are injected into the economy, a Cabinet Minister said yesterday.
The new notes are expected to be in circulation in a few weeks’ time with the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) rolling out massive awareness campaigns ahead of their usage.
Addressing legislators at the at the 2017 pre-Budget seminar in Bulawayo, the Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Patrick Chinamasa, said the ongoing nationwide public awareness campaigns were meant to empower the transacting public and warn them against conmen.
“You may not be aware of this but fake bond notes have been printed to coincide with our release in order to confuse the situation,” said Minister Chinamasa. “You may also need to know that some people have been going to the people where we put orders for printing and threatening litigation and bad publicity.
“Because we have reputational issues, every threat is considered valid, which is why we are no longer giving a running commentary on what we are doing.” The minister would not elaborate on who are the culprits and how they accessed key features of the proposed notes before their release.
The initial deadline for the release of bond notes was end of October. However, the RBZ withheld their injection in order to extend campaigns and educate the public on the denominations and operations of the bond notes.
The new notes will come in denominations of $2 and $5 with an initial tranche of $75 million worth of notes set to be in circulation by end of next month. When the central bank is satisfied with the level of conversancy the public has with bond notes, they will be introduced.
Minister Chinamasa said in view of these considerations, the Government was vigilant and taking precautions in implementing steps to revitalise the economy so as to avert disruptions. He said Reserve Bank Governor Dr John Mangudya would be available tomorrow to answer detailed questions that legislators and other stakeholders would have on bond notes.
The RBZ in May announced plans to introduce bond notes as a production performance related export incentive or bonus scheme to be awarded to exporters of goods and services. Under this scheme the central bank would pay up to 5 percent incentive or bonus in bond notes to exporters.
The measure is also meant to buttress the use of the multiple currency system and help ease liquidity challenges. Backed by a $200 million loan facility from Afreximbank, the bond notes will be equivalent to the US dollar in terms of value and should be accepted as legal tender. The Government has already promulgated Statutory Instrument 133 of 2016, which has since been gazetted, as a legal backing to the use of the new notes.
COMMENTS
Bonds are fake dollars. The Zimbabwe state is the counterfeiter. The “unscrupulous characters” are all senior ministers and officials in the Zimbabwe government. The complaint laid out in the article above amounts to not wanting to share the spoils with other criminals.
“The initial deadline for the release of bond notes was end of October. However, the RBZ withheld their injection in order to extend campaigns and educate the public on the denominations and operations of the bond notes,” because the syndicate established by the Ministry and Central Bank had not finalized its fake designs.
Mangudya & his Minister can vouch accuracy on this.
For every bond note dollar that hits the street a real dollar will be extracted into the pockets of zanupf thievery!!
Could it be that Gideon Gone is printing these fake bond dollars? he certainly has the experience.
However, it will be easy to spot the fake notes: they will be in denominations of BNZ 5,000,000,000,000 and above and they will be called agro-bond-fake-note.
This Zanu party ndeye varoyi.Nothing good has ever come from these goons. Makuva e vanhu vasina mhosva; kuba; kutorera vanhu zvinhu zvavo the list is endless. The perpetrator / RG Matibili from Nkata bay
‘It is equivalent to the US dollar in terms of value’, but it can only be used in Zimbabwe. Can there be any better description for the Zimbabwe dollar?
Presumably the fake ‘fake dollars’ are being printed alongside the real ‘fake dollars’ so that we won’t be surprised when there are billions of fake dollars swamping us.
How can someone print fake bond notes if they dont knows what they are going to look like ?
This stinks of an inside job to me.
Thank God it’s from the Herald so we don’t have to wonder whether it’s true.
Only In Africa. It’s times like this I feel ashamed that I’m African. The notes are not even out yet, but some Zanu PF thieving thug has already got their grubby hands on them & faked them. Make you think, how many of the real bond notes will be real, God help Zims & the whole of Africa.