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NMB Bank founder wanted US to choke Zim government's access to cash: Wikileaks
17 Sep 2011 at 08:04hrs | Views
NMB Bank co-founder and managing director James Mushore suggested that the US blocks the importation of paper used to print money from Germany as a measure to choke the government's access to cash.
According to leaked US embassy cables released by WikiLeaks, Mushore told a US embassy economic officer on February 28 2008 that Zimbabwe's extreme printing of money was an attempt to "buy the election".
"The government of Zimbabwe's ability to print money is key to the regime's survival…. he said the GOZ was printing Z$24,2 trillion/day in Z$10 million notes at Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe-owned Fidelity Printers in Harare, and purchasing 432 000 sheets of notepaper per week from the German company Giesecke & Devrient," the cable reads.
Mushore further claimed that due to power outages the RBZ governor Gideon Gono outfitted the printer with enough power generators to ensure 24/7 production. However, even at maximum production, Fidelity printers was still unable to meet RBZ's "roaring demand for cash".
According to leaked US embassy cables released by WikiLeaks, Mushore told a US embassy economic officer on February 28 2008 that Zimbabwe's extreme printing of money was an attempt to "buy the election".
"The government of Zimbabwe's ability to print money is key to the regime's survival…. he said the GOZ was printing Z$24,2 trillion/day in Z$10 million notes at Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe-owned Fidelity Printers in Harare, and purchasing 432 000 sheets of notepaper per week from the German company Giesecke & Devrient," the cable reads.
Mushore further claimed that due to power outages the RBZ governor Gideon Gono outfitted the printer with enough power generators to ensure 24/7 production. However, even at maximum production, Fidelity printers was still unable to meet RBZ's "roaring demand for cash".
Source - theindependent
