News / Local
Man to sue Government over bond notes
23 Dec 2016 at 03:29hrs | Views
A private citizen Shepherd Mazorodze has hinted on suing government over bond notes.
Mazorodze is pressing Government through Finance minister Patrick Chinamasa to reveal the terms of the $200 million Afreximbank loan facility backing the bond notes.
Chinamasa has up to January 25 to do so or risk being taken to court.
"Your ministry through the RBZ issued bond notes on November 29 2016 and you told the nation that the bond notes are backed by $200 million facility concluded with Afreximbank" he wrote through his Donsa-Nkomo and Mutangi Legal Practitioners on December 19.
"However, you never disclosed the terms of the said Afreximbank bank facility to the public on whom you forced the bond notes.
"Our client is convinced that in refusing or failing to disclose the specific terms of the facility, you violated section 298(1) and (f) of the Constitution which provides that 'there must be transparency and accountability in financial matters' and that 'public borrowing and all transactions involving national debt must be carried out transparently and in the best interest of Zimbabwe."
He added, "Should you refuse, fail or neglect to comply with this demand, we have firm and final instructions to institute legal action against you with without further notice".
This comes amid fears Zimbabweans could have been hoodwinked by government to believe the existence of a $200m facility to back the surrogate currency when in fact the authorities will just be printing money into circulation.
Government officials say the surrogate currency is meant to avert a biting cash crisis while promoting exports,as fears abound that the authorities are using bond notes as a ruse to re-introduce a fully-fledged local currency.
Mazorodze is pressing Government through Finance minister Patrick Chinamasa to reveal the terms of the $200 million Afreximbank loan facility backing the bond notes.
Chinamasa has up to January 25 to do so or risk being taken to court.
"Your ministry through the RBZ issued bond notes on November 29 2016 and you told the nation that the bond notes are backed by $200 million facility concluded with Afreximbank" he wrote through his Donsa-Nkomo and Mutangi Legal Practitioners on December 19.
"However, you never disclosed the terms of the said Afreximbank bank facility to the public on whom you forced the bond notes.
"Our client is convinced that in refusing or failing to disclose the specific terms of the facility, you violated section 298(1) and (f) of the Constitution which provides that 'there must be transparency and accountability in financial matters' and that 'public borrowing and all transactions involving national debt must be carried out transparently and in the best interest of Zimbabwe."
He added, "Should you refuse, fail or neglect to comply with this demand, we have firm and final instructions to institute legal action against you with without further notice".
This comes amid fears Zimbabweans could have been hoodwinked by government to believe the existence of a $200m facility to back the surrogate currency when in fact the authorities will just be printing money into circulation.
Government officials say the surrogate currency is meant to avert a biting cash crisis while promoting exports,as fears abound that the authorities are using bond notes as a ruse to re-introduce a fully-fledged local currency.
Source - Byo24News
