Gono stole more than $37.5m, R1.4m, £21K from RBZ - Kereke

Former advisor to the governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, Dr Munyaradzi Kereke, has filed a constitutional application challenging the Anti-Corruption Commission for its failure to investigate Dr Gideon Gono.

In the constitutional application filed this Thursday at the Mashonganyika Building, Dr Kereke sited the Anti-Corruption Commission as the first respondent and Dr Gono as the second.

In the application, Dr Kereke said the failure by the commission to investigate allegations of abuse of office, corruption and theft against Dr Gono is unconstitutional, adding that the commission has a constitutional obligation to receive and consider complaints from the public.

Dr Kereke attached a letter he wrote to the commission last year, in which he chronicled some of the alleged corrupt activities by Dr Gono between the year 2006 and 2009.

He alleged that Dr Gono took more than $37.5 million, R1,4 million and more than 21 thousand 500 pounds state funds which he converted to his personal use.

In the constitutional application, Dr Kereke says the massive theft undermined the capacity of government to fulfil the basic rights as enshrined by the constitution.

Dr Kereke further stated that the former central bank governor undermined the interests of the state by circulating cabinet minutes and military files to hostile foreign governments in breach of the Official Secrets Act.

He indicated that he has proof of the allegations and is ready to give evidence.

Dr Gono is alleged to have abused his authority after he allegedly borrowed in excess of $40 million through related companies he controls.

Dr Kereke said what Dr Gono did compromised the supervisory role of the central bank leading to the current challenges faced by the banking sector in the country.

In the constitutional application, Dr Gono is alleged to have sold pure gold bullion to a private jewellery company in Saudi Arabia at a discount of 34 percent.

It has also been presented that the former reserve bank governor misrepresented to the government the true status of the International Monetary Fund debt, alleging Zimbabwe cleared all the outstanding arrears.

"He said Zimbabwe was allocated special drawing rights equivalent to $520 million in 2009 and the IMF deducted more than $66 million special drawing rights and stashed them in an Escrow account and the amount is almost equivalent to Zimbabwe's debt to the IMF," he alleges.

Dr Kereke further stated that in 2009, Dr Gono casually wrote on a scrap paper instructing a junior officer to transfer $1.5 million into former Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's ZB account, adding that the money was never recovered by the central bank.

Dr Kereke alleged that Dr Gono also abused his office by giving $200 thousand Reserve Bank money to the Financial Gazette, a company in which he is the majority share holder.

The cash is alleged to have been handed over to Hama Saburi, an editor with the paper.

The former advisor to the central bank also alleged that Dr Gono bribed officials from the Anti-Corruption Commission saying huge amounts of money were moved from the central bank to the commission.

Dr Kereke added that officials were given varying amounts to go on luxurious holidays at a time the country was facing economic challenges. He argues that these incentives enabled the commission to spare Dr Gono from investigations.