Business / Economy
Zimbabwe diamond finances, US targets German bank
03 Aug 2014 at 19:53hrs | Views
The United States has placed a German financial institution under strict surveillance for clearing payments for Zimbabwe's diamonds at the recent Dubai diamond tender, state media reported Sunday.
According to The Sunday Mail, Commerzbank AG of Germany was responsible for clearing payments for the diamonds but has been targeted by American officials for alleged violating the US International Emergency Economic Powers Act and the Trading with the Enemy Act.
It said the US was also probing six banks in Germany, France, Italy and Japan - through the Office of Foreign Assets Control - for processing transactions involving countries under American sanctions.
The state-run paper said the Zimbabwean government was taking measures to counter the sanctions by immediately cutting large-scale diamond exports to value-add the stones locally, in the process also creating at least 1,000 jobs.
"A processing centre will be set up on Harare's outskirts, and the initiative - which received cabinet approval last week - will see government earn returns of up to five times what it has got from selling rough diamonds," the paper said.
Seven Zimbabwean diamond mining firms last month sent parcels totalling 960,000 carats to the two-week Dubai Diamond Exchange auction in the United Arab Emirates where they hoped to earn over US$100 million.
According to The Sunday Mail, Commerzbank AG of Germany was responsible for clearing payments for the diamonds but has been targeted by American officials for alleged violating the US International Emergency Economic Powers Act and the Trading with the Enemy Act.
It said the US was also probing six banks in Germany, France, Italy and Japan - through the Office of Foreign Assets Control - for processing transactions involving countries under American sanctions.
"A processing centre will be set up on Harare's outskirts, and the initiative - which received cabinet approval last week - will see government earn returns of up to five times what it has got from selling rough diamonds," the paper said.
Seven Zimbabwean diamond mining firms last month sent parcels totalling 960,000 carats to the two-week Dubai Diamond Exchange auction in the United Arab Emirates where they hoped to earn over US$100 million.
Source - APA
