RBZ ordered to name, shame forex dealers

Government has tasked the central bank to reveal individuals and companies that were allocated foreign currency at par with the country's surrogate currency from October last year to February this year amid indications that beneficiaries exploited arbitrage opportunities on the parallel market.

Acie Lumumba last year claimed that state security agents have narrowed down sources of illegal foreign currency dealings and will soon meet up with Finance Minister, Professor Mthuli Ncube to sniff out economic saboteurs.

Lumumba said that top Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) officials were fuelling the mess on the market and would soon be placed under surveillance.

"The minister is receiving briefs, yes, and will meet them (security sector) this week. The minister is committed to arresting the situation and the security agencies have narrowed down the source of the criminal activities. It's clear we have dirty hands collaborating with government officials and it's only a matter of time now before government shuts down the aggressive influence of the black market and clean up errant government complicity," he said.

He added that the level at which RBZ had been "captured" by the suspected saboteurs required the intervention of the security sector, as Ncube would not be able to execute the job alone.

"There are directors at RBZ, especially, who are holding industry captive. The corruption at director level of the RBZ is pure poison and there is no single business that doesn't know that the directors are out of control. RBZ has been captured and the governor will need security sector support to clean that up," he said.

More to follow...