News / National
Govt probing $15bn diamond scam
21 Mar 2016 at 05:24hrs | Views
Finance and Economic Development Minister Patrick Chinamasa has told parliament that the government was investigating $15 billion diamond scam following the President Robert Mugabe's revelations that the amount was siphoned in the diamond mining activities at Chaidzwa.
Chinamasa made the remarks when being asked by parliamentarians as to what was being done over the scam.
"The Mines and Mining Development, Walter Chidhakwa answered that question and said he was going to try and see how this money disappeared. He will present a report upon conclusion of investigations. He promised to table a report to the august Senate on this matter," he said.
"The reason why we got involved in the Chiadzwa issue was because things were not moving well, that is why we took the steps that we took. Going forward, I would like to promise Hon. Senators that we do not expect what happened yesterday to recur. As you are aware, there is only one company run by the Government that is mining diamonds."
He said they have already started and the government was happy about what is being done.
"At the moment, we are at the stage where we receive reports on a daily basis. They inform us of how many carats they would have got on a daily basis," he said. "I believe that what you have asked will never happen again because the matter has been rectified. As I have already said, it takes time for people to come to an agreement. There have been some disagreements and squabbles in as far as the mining of diamonds is concerned. It is not that the $15 billion is the amount but we still have to investigate to see how much it was and who took it."
But MDC-T senator Morgan Komichi blamed the executive for sleeping on duty while the looting was occurring.
"Minister of Finance and Economic Development, $15 billion is a lot of money that could have covered our national debt of $10 billion and the issue of sanctions could have ended. We could have been left with $5 billion that could have been used in this country. This occurred during the watch of the Executive," he said.
Chinamasa made the remarks when being asked by parliamentarians as to what was being done over the scam.
"The Mines and Mining Development, Walter Chidhakwa answered that question and said he was going to try and see how this money disappeared. He will present a report upon conclusion of investigations. He promised to table a report to the august Senate on this matter," he said.
"The reason why we got involved in the Chiadzwa issue was because things were not moving well, that is why we took the steps that we took. Going forward, I would like to promise Hon. Senators that we do not expect what happened yesterday to recur. As you are aware, there is only one company run by the Government that is mining diamonds."
"At the moment, we are at the stage where we receive reports on a daily basis. They inform us of how many carats they would have got on a daily basis," he said. "I believe that what you have asked will never happen again because the matter has been rectified. As I have already said, it takes time for people to come to an agreement. There have been some disagreements and squabbles in as far as the mining of diamonds is concerned. It is not that the $15 billion is the amount but we still have to investigate to see how much it was and who took it."
But MDC-T senator Morgan Komichi blamed the executive for sleeping on duty while the looting was occurring.
"Minister of Finance and Economic Development, $15 billion is a lot of money that could have covered our national debt of $10 billion and the issue of sanctions could have ended. We could have been left with $5 billion that could have been used in this country. This occurred during the watch of the Executive," he said.
Source - Byo24News
