Maravi

(TALKZIMBABWE) Cranswick's minerals smuggling racket exposed

COMMENT - See also here in the Sydney Morning Herald. I wonder what Sue Lloyd Roberts makes of that. She seemed very sympathetic to him when she interviewed him on his difficulties getting back his diamond mine claims. I wonder how loud the cries for obeying the 'rule of law' are going to be.

This is proof if any was needed, that all mining should be in the hands of the government. These people have no compunction about stealing from some of the poorest people on the planet, and not only should they go to jail for life, the mining industry in Africa must be completely government owned. That is the only way to benefit from Africa's resources.

Cranswick's minerals smuggling racket exposed
By: TSM
Posted: Saturday, November 27, 2010 11:48 pm

AFRICAN Consolidated Resources (ACR) boss Andrew Cranswick, who is facing prosecution for allegedly acquiring diamond mining claims fraudulently, has made stunning confessions that he engaged in questionable activities after taking advantage of “lax” monitoring systems in Zimbabwe.

These include smuggling precious minerals, externalising foreign currency and tax evasion. The startling revelations were last week exposed by the Australian Business Day newspaper, which is in possession of a transcript of Cranswick’s interview with the Australian Tax Office (ATO) which last month declared the controversial businessman bankrupt over a $1.1 million (Australian dollars) tax debt.

In a feature article titled “The bankrupt CEO and one hell of a secret” published last Wednesday, the Australian paper revealed details of Cranwick’s interview with ATO officials during which the businessman stated how he was secretly selling minerals from several African countries, including Zimbabwe, to businessmen from Asia.

The interview was reportedly conducted by ATO auditors Robert Dimitrovski, Glenn Lucy and Adriel Creta in April last year as part of an inquiry into Cranwick’s shadowy financial affairs.

The Australia Business Day described Cranswick’s financial and personal affairs as complex after noting that although he was resident in Zimbabwe, his income was coming from Mauritius while his resources company (ACR) was listed in London with his bank account and yacht club membership being held in Australia.

During the interview, it emerged that Cranwick’s dealings revolved around a company called Adonis Investments, a small shareholder in ACR that was originally run from the British Channel Islands but now based in Mauritius.

Adonis holds some of Cranswick's 2.7 per cent stake in London Stock Exchange-listed African Consolidated Resources, where Cranswick is still chief executive, despite the Australian bankruptcy order.

Cranswick confessed that his investment vehicle, Adonis, was doing much more than holding his stock (in ACR) and collecting his wages, but was behind the smuggling of precious minerals to Dubai and the externalisation of huge sums of money from Zimbabwe.

“Obviously to those authorities (in Zimbabwe), it’s got to be a hell of a secret,” Cranswick reportedly told the ATO officials.

“Metals are traded on quite a large scale, mostly silver and gold and a bit of cobalt and copper, where the broker is a legit firm, a big firm in Dubai called ARY Refineries, if you want to put that down.

“They (buyers) don’t know Zambia, Zimbabwe, Congo, Mozambique and how to find people and how to operate on the ground,” Cranswick reportedly said.

ARY Traders is one of Dubai’s biggest gold dealers and is run by Pakistani businessman Abdul Razzak Yaqoob.

On the externalisation of funds, Cranswick told the Australian investigators that Adonis was working in conjunction with one Tony Csaszar, a Mauritian or South African resident to move funds from Zimbabwe.

Under the arrangement, Cranswick would introduce clients to Csaszar after which he would reap a 25 percent share of any profit from every sucessful transaction.

“If there is a transaction, lets say someone in Zimbabwe says ok, listen, I need to get money out of the country, I introduce them to Tony.

“I say this is the chap, he wants to send it (money) to the UK or Australia or whatever the case may be and then Tony negotiates with him. He (Tony) copies me in on what he’s done,” revealed Cranswick.

He told ATO investigators that he was a resident of Zimbabwe but had not paid any tax here because “the system had completely broken down due to hyperinflation”.

He said he had paid some tax in Britain but had not paid Australian tax since 2004 because he was not an Australian resident.

Cranswick left Australia on June 9, 2009 and has not returned there despite a promise that he would go back.

Perth Federal Court Justice Neil McKerracher ordered him bankrupted on October 27 this year, appointing Anthony Warner of CRS Warner Kuger as trustee in bankruptcy.

Cranswick told the media earlier this month that he would not return to Australia where he is wanted for tax evasion declaring that he was very much at home in Zimbabwe.

Cranswick is embroiled in a bitter fight with the Government which this year cancelled his mining claims in the Marange diamond fields on the basis that the mining rights were fraudulently acquired.

The Government has since announced its intention to prosecute Cranswick on fraud charges.

It was not clear whether Cranswick also illegally exported diamonds along with the other minerals he mentioned to the Australians.

Labels: AFRICAN CONSOLIDATED RESOURCES PLC, ANDREW CRANSWICK, CORRUPTION, DIAMONDS

posted by MrK @ 6:32 PM