(THEZIMBABWETIMES) House summons mining company directors

House summons mining company directors
By Our Correspondent
March 22, 2010

HARARE – Parliament summoned two directors of two mining companies alleged to have been corruptly granted rights to mine the controversial Chiadzwa diamond mines in eastern Zimbabwe to appear Monday before a portfolio committee that has exposed the diamond plunder matrix by top generals and senior Zanu-PF officials amid reports President Mugabe’s party wants the hearings to be held in camera.

The outcome of Monday meeting could not be established by the end of the day on Monday.

Three times in a row, the directors of Mbada and Canadile Miners have refused to appear before the committee ostensibly because testifying would be subjudice to the ongoing court case with African Consolidated Resources, a UK-registered and London-listed concern, which has legal rights to the diamond fields.

ACR, whose Chiadzwa claims were seized by government and given to Mbada and Canadile Miners, has approached the courts over reclamation of its rights to Chiadzwa, believed to be the biggest diamond find in the world. Mbada and Canadile have extracted 2 million carats of diamonds worth at least US$70 million. The bankrupt unity government of President Mugabe and Prime Minister Tsvangirai has not benefited from this resource.

Initially, the mining companies, the permanent secretary and minister of Mines failed to turn up at three Mines and Energy Committee hearings scheduled for them. The minister and the permanent secretary complied last week. But the hearings were held in camera. Zanu-PF says Prime Minister Tsvangirai’ MDC is attempting to besmirch the party through the probe, which has revealed shocking plunder.

The Clerk of Parliament, Austin Zvoma, has said the portfolio committee has the power under the Privileges, Immunities and Powers of Parliament Act to demand the presence of Mbada and Canadile Miners directors, and they have been summoned to appear at hearings today.

Failure to appear would constitute contempt of Parliament, a punishable offence.

Curiously, the people driving the 13-member portfolio committee are both Zanu-PF, Edward Chindori-Chininga and Simbaneuta Mudarikwa, recently attested into Zanu-PF’s supreme decision-making body, the Politburo. There are under currents of succession politics in the manner in which the portfolio committee has demonstrate unrestrained exuberance in probing the murky diamond fields, linked to two competing factions in Zanu-PF, right up to President Mugabe.

The Mbada chairman, Robert Mhlanga is a retired Air Force of Zimbabwe vice marshall and has close ties to Zimbabwe’s military establishment which is accused of stealing millions of dollars worth of diamonds from Marange.

Canadile is chaired by retired soldier Lovemore Kurotwi.

Journalists were kicked out of hearings where Mpofu squirmed under tough probing last week. Sources say he was grilled about his appalling failure to conduct a proper due diligence on Mbada and Canadile Miners, whose share register is said to be stuffed with crooks and fugitives from justice and shady individuals.

Mpofu is said to have challenged the portfolio committee to identify any investors who were clean in the diamond industry.

There is a murky partnership between ZMDC, Grandwell and Core Mining, two South African companies engaged as technical partners in August 2009.

It emerged at the committee hearings that no due diligence was conducted on the companies, linked to shady individuals and fugitives from justice.

Yehuda Licht (Juda), a director of Canadille Miners, a joint venture company between ZMDC, Core Mining and Mineral Resources (Pvt) Ltd, is an Israeli diamond smuggler reported as once having been in prison in Angola for diamond smuggling.

Another director Adrian Taylor was a mercenary in Sierra Leonne, where blood diamonds tore that country to shreds.

Other directors of Canadille, Danesh and Ashok Pandeya were active diamond smugglers during the recent DRC conflict. The two claim to be partners of high level people in the Zimbabwe government. Ashok is on the police wanted list in Thailand over fraud involving diamonds worth US$100 million.

The board is also stuffed with Zimbabwean military people.

Speaking to reporters briefly after his appearance before the portfolio committee last week, Mpofu said the hullabaloo over the Chiadzwa diamond fields was stage-managed by ACR chief executive Andrew Cranswick.

“That man will never mine here as long as I am minister,” Mpofu vowed. “Cranswick, only one man, has caused all the chaos. That one white man does not even employ, his company is listed in Britain yet he holds Zimbabwe to ransom.

“In fact we received communication from Israel, the Kimberly chair saying they will not listen to Cranswick and they want us to move forward. He is responsible for all this mess, stopping us from using our resource to assist the country. We are under sanctions because of that one man. He has used the media effectively.”