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Tsvangirai fails to pay $600k debt to a local bank

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10 Jul 2011 at 08:17hrs | Views
Casper Tsvangirai, the Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's younger brother is on the verge of having some of his properties attached after failing to clear a US$600 000 debt with a local bank.

Mr Tsvangirai (53) was also recently in the news for failing to meet his cellphone usage bill with a local mobile phone network.

Bank and legal documents show that Mr Tsvangirai borrowed US$500 000 from TN Bank in June 2009 for use in his gold mining ventures in the Midlands.

He was supposed to repay the money by the end of June last year but after servicing part of the loan, he began defaulting, resulting in the outstanding money and interest charges accumulating to about US$600 000.

TN Bank released the money under a facility it unveiled on June 16, 2009 to small-scale gold miners under the ambit of the Zimbabwe Gold Miners and Millers Association (Zigmma), of which Mr Tsvangirai is organising secretary and treasurer.

Mr Tsvangirai initially serviced his loan according to the agreed repayment plan but later defaulted, resulting in the bank initiating moves to recover its money by attaching a residential property in Kwekwe and some of his mining claims.

To avoid the looming attachment of his property, Mr Tsvangirai is said to have tried to change ownership of the house through Wilmot and Bennett Legal Practitioners.

His luck, however, ran out when TN Bank got wind of the planned transaction as Wilmot and Bennett were in merger talks with the bank's legal representatives, Mtetwa and Nyambirai Legal Practitioners.

Reports say that Mr Tsvangirai appeared to be a bit evasive concerning the payment of the outstanding amount and this has led the bank to institute measures to recover its dues.

This resulted in the financial institution engaging Mtetwa and Nyambirai Legal Practitioners to stop the transaction and initiate moves to recover the outstanding money.

Mr Tsvangirai did not answer repeated calls to his mobile phone last week while TN Bank chief Mr Tawanda Nyambirai declined to comment on the issue on Friday, citing client confidentiality.

Documents availed to The Sunday Mail, however, show that Mr Tsvangirai got the money together with other members of the Zigmma executive.

These include chairman Mr Nixon Misi, secretary Mr Herbert Mudzamba and  chairman of the Harare Mining District Mr Johnson who got varying amounts from the bank.

The other members of the executive are said to have serviced their loans while those that failed to do so within the agreed timeframe submitted repayment proposals that were accepted by the bank.


Source - TSN