Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) has said claims by the late former President Robert Mugabe that US$15 billion worth of diamonds from Marange were stolen could not be investigated because there was neither an accused person nor a complainant.
Responding to questions from journalists during a two-day anti-corruption reporting media workshop in Bulawayo which ended on Tuesday on whether ZACC had carried out investigations into Mugabe’s claims, ZACC deputy chairperson commissioner Kuziwa Phineas Murapa said (via NewsDay):
This is why we feel that this workshop is essential: when you stumble upon such information, give us the whole information and we will investigate.
On the US$15 billion that the former President talked about, again nobody has come out to say who is the accused, and where they got the diamonds from.
The investigation has to show who the complainant is, who the accused is and how you link the accused to the actual prejudice.
So that link was not created, and we do not know who the complainant was, it was just a statement made.
Murapa also cast doubt on the possibility of the country having lost diamonds worth US$15 billion within a year as alleged by the late strongman. He said:
If you speak to other authorities they tell you that for Zimbabwe to have had that sort of diamonds within a year or so, internationally it is impossible. So we never again got the full story as to who actually took those diamonds.
In 2015, Mugabe claimed that US$15 billion worth of diamonds might have been stolen from Marange diamond fields.
Mugabe’s startling assertions triggered a nationwide uproar, prompting citizens to call for an investigation into the matter to ascertain how the diamonds were stolen and who profited from the looting.
Mugabe later avoided a parliamentary probe after he was recused from giving oral evidence by the Speaker of the National Assembly, Jacob Mudenda.
