The government of Zimbabwe has broken the silence around allegations of gold smuggling and money laundering exposed in an Al-Jazeera documentary last month, saying on Tuesday that it will launch an inquiry into the claims.
In a four-part documentary released on March 23rd, the news network shows individuals allegedly affiliated with Zimbabwean government smuggling gold to evade western sanctions.
According to Al-Jazeera’s Investigative Unit (I-Unit), the gold mafia is licensed to buy the precious metal from small producers that would otherwise have been smuggled out of the country. The group then exports the gold to Dubai, where the proceeds of the metal sales is transferred into bank accounts to make the transactions look legitimate.
“Government takes the allegations raised in the documentary seriously, and has directed relevant organs to institute investigations into the issues raised,” Information Minister and Publicity Minister Monica Mutsvangwa said in the statement.
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