Gono caused SMM's demise says Kereke

Bikita West national assembly member, Munyaradzi Kereke says Shabani Mashaba Mines Holdings (SMM) was taken over by the government after the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) fraudulently manipulated the state of its debts.

In his answering affidavit submitted to the Constitutional Court last week, Kereke said his ex-boss and former RBZ governor; Gideon Gono purposely ignored an auditor's report which exposed the manipulation.

Kereke, who has opened a can of worms in his fight with Gono over allegations that his former boss was corrupt, said a report by auditors Deloitte and Touche was ignored.

"Auditors did in fact pick out fraudulent manipulation of books of accounts and documented this, but Gono wielded his powers and ignored the findings," said the legislator.

He alleged that Gono manipulated the RBZ's debts to SMM Holdings in a manner that misdirected the government in its dealings with the company.

"Deloitte auditors pointed out that SMM Holdings debts were exaggerated by more than four times the original capital borrowings with bizarre interest," reads the affidavit.

This he said, led to the government taking over SMM Holdings from South African-based Zimbabwean businessman, Mutumwa Mawere.

The former advisor to Gono, who is pushing for the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission  (ZACC) to probe alleged shoddy dealings that prejudiced the state of millions of dollars, said the debts were cooked up.

Kereke alleges that even though he tried to bring up the issue with Gono, his efforts were rebuffed.

"As his advisor, I pointed out this anomaly in the strongest of terms but was quashed into silence through direct threats of censure," he said.

Gono is also being accused of exclusively operating an account he called "special projects" which he personally handled.

Kereke further alleges that external auditors BDO Kudenga, reportedly unravelled fraud involving RBZ funds which were used to buy a total of 53 580 984 shares but only 3 051 309 were accounted for.

An alleged quote from the auditors read, "Based on information availed to us, the bank's shareholding is 53 580 984 shares but we were not availed share certificates for the full shareholding but for 3 052 309 shares."

The bitter court case which cites ZACC and Gono as the first and second respondents respectively, has sucked in many companies and organisations said to have been beneficiaries of the scam.

But Gono in his submission suggested that Kereke should be taken for a psychological evaluation for making "false claims" that he was involved in corrupt deals while heading the Central bank.

Gono said Kereke's application was "malicious, vindictive and calculated" at stopping his nomination as Zanu PF senator for Buhera.