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Zim Parly to summon Mugabe over missing diamond revenue

12 april 2018
Former Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe will be summoned to testify before a parliamentary committee on mines and energy that is probing the missing Marange diamond revenue, state media reports.
Mugabe claimed early 2016 that of the $15 billion worth of diamonds mined from Marange only $2 billion was channeled to the treasury.
“The committee had already resolved to invite him after we had heard the evidence and if our recommendations suit what the inquiry was about, there might be no need to call him because it’s up to the information that we require,” chairperson of the committee, Temba Mliswa was quoted as saying.
“I cannot pre-empt anything because we will be seeking what we are seeking regarding the $15 billion worth of diamonds which went missing.”
He also declined to reveal when Mugabe would likely appear before the committee, saying it would depend on the answers that they would get from officials invited so far.
“If we have the answers there might be no need,” said Mliswa.
“But we had resolved that he must attend. My point is that we are not witch-hunting, we are actually trying to get institutions to respond to the $15 billion leakage in terms of diamonds.”

Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished