eBusiness Weekly
HARARE – The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) yesterday suspended four senior bank officials to pave way for investigations into corruption allegations raised against them.
On Sunday, newly appointed Ministry of Finance communications task-force chairman Acie Lumumba accused the quartet, who are directors at the Central Bank, of crimes ranging from corrupt allocation of foreign currency, fueling the illegal currency parallel market and purchasing and selling gold illegally.
The four include RBZ Director Bank Supervision Norman Mataruka, Director Financial Markets Azvinandawa Saburi, Director Financial Intelligence Mirirai Chiremba and Head of Security Gresham Muradzikwa.
The four, Lumumba said, worked for an unnamed person with political muscle who he likened to a Queen Bee.
“It is literally a cartel; you have a cartel running the Reserve Bank.
But I do not believe that Mangudya is a part of it,” Lumumba said.
In a statement, RBZ governor Dr John Mangudya said the suspensions were indefinite.
“The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe wishes to advise members of the public that following allegations of impropriety leveled against senior officials of the bank namely Messrs Mirirai Chiremba, Norman Mataruka, Gresham Muradzikwa and Azvinandawa Saburi by Mr Lumumba the bank has found it necessary for the sake of transparency and good corporate governance that the allegations be followed through and investigated in line with the Banks employment code of conduct,” he said.
“Consequently on 22 October 2018, the bank suspended the quartet from employment for an indefinite period to pave way for the investigations.
Once the investigations have been concluded, the public shall be advised of the outcome and the appropriate corrective action to be taken as dictated by the outcome of the investigations.”
President Emmerson Mnangagwa has embarked on an anti-corruption drive and recently described parallel market currency dealers as a threat to national security.
His warning came following the recent wave of price hikes of basic goods and commodities which were triggered by a spike in parallel market exchange rates.
“To that end, this problem is now being treated as a serious security threat which requires a different response so that we get back to clean, productive and disciplined economic activity operating within the norms and rules of the market,” he said last week. – New Ziana
