Zacc salvages US$1m property in SA

THE Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc), with the assistance of South African authorities, has managed to seize and forfeit property worth US$1 million suspected to have been illegally acquired in the neighbouring country.

Zacc believes close to US$7 billion is stashed in countries such as South Africa, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Spain and Singapore.

In a ruling delivered on February 9, Pretoria High Court judge Aubrey Ledwaba gave South African authorities permission to seize pending forfeiture to the Zimbabwean Government, an upmarket house in Pretoria and two Range Rovers belonging to Marry Mubaiwa.

The property is worth US$919 943 (R14 million).

Part of the ruling reads: "A preservation order is granted with immediate effect in terms of Section 38(2) of the Prevention of Organised Crime Act of 1998 (POCA) preserving the property (the property) identified . . .

"That the South African Police Service (SAPS) Brooklyn Police Station under Cas 308/01/2020 to seize the property as described in paragraph 1.2 and 1,3 above to be kept for safekeeping at Pretoria West Pound VSS., until the outcome of the forfeiture proceedings to be instituted in terms of Section 48 of the Act."

Mubaiwa is being charged with five counts of fraud and contravening Section 8 (2) of Money Laundering and Proceeds of Crime Act for "concealing, disguising the true nature, source, location, disposition, movement or ownership; of or rights with respect to property, knowing or suspecting that such property are proceeds of crime".

ZACC, with the assistance of the Prosecutor-General's Office, requested Mutual Legal Assistance from Pretoria in obtaining records of the transactions.

ZACC spokesperson Commissioner John Makamure told The Sunday Mail that the order against Mubaiwa is just a tip of the iceberg, as the corruption watchdog has intensified negotiations with several countries to recover ill-gotten assets.

"We are vigorously pursuing mutual legal assistance with several countries in order to make it easier to trace, seize and recover billions of assets suspected to have been siphoned abroad," he said.

As a signatory of the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC), he added, Zimbabwe is obliged to get assistance from several countries to get back the stolen assets.

"By virtue of being part of the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC), we will be able to enter into bilateral relations which will enable us to make mutual legalassistance," Comm Makamure said.

UNCAC is a multilateral treaty negotiated by member states of the United Nations.

It requires state parties to the treaty to implement several anti-corruption measures that focus on five main areas: prevention, law enforcement, international cooperation, asset recovery, and technical assistance and information exchange.

In a recent interview, ZACC chairperson Justice Loice Matanda-Moyo said the anti-graft body will go all-out to recover siphoned assets.

"Informally, we have now identified over US$7 billion worth of property and cash all over the world which were siphoned by our former leaders, current leaders, private sector and individuals. So this information we only got informally, so now we have to formalise the process so that we start the processes of repatriating the monies back home."

ZACC has already started training its offers to enhance their expertise in asset recovery.