Gono accuses Biti of corruption

By Violet Gonda
21 May 2009

The controversial Governor of the Reserve Bank, Gideon Gono wrote a blistering letter to Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai last week, in which he accused Finance Minister Tendai Biti of victimising him and of corruption. Gono claims, in the letter which was leaked to the media this week, that Honey and Blankenberg, a law firm in which the Minister was a senior partner, externalised more than US$1 million in foreign currency in contravention of Exchange Control regulations. Gono said this happened between October 2005 and May 2006.

The Finance Minister has accused Gono of destroying the economy while describing the operations of the central bank as being illegal. It’s generally believed by most Zimbabweans that Gono is responsible for the complete economic destruction of Zimbabwe and he has even confessed to illegally ‘taking’ many millions out of company and individual forex accounts, to fund ZANU PF activities.

But Gono alleges in the letter that Biti has a personal vendetta against him because of the central bank’s investigation into “alleged rampant externalisation of foreign currency resources and money laundering activities discovered at the Minister’s legal firm Honey & Blanckenberg where he is (or was) a partner.”
Gono complained: “At a campaign rally in Masvingo last year, Hon. Minister called me names and accused me of “being at the epicenter of ZANU (PF) terror machine”; “an economic saboteur, terrorist and number one Al-Qaeda who deserves to be shot by a firing squad”

“These utterances were widely circulated both in the print and electronic media and today form the basis of the hate-mail that I receive and the hatred many MDC-T supporters display against the Governor. Indeed the international community has also been poisoned to believe that I am a member of the terrorist group Al-Qaeda. These threats to my life and family are very unsettling and may one day be carried out by an over-zealous MDC-T Party Member or just criminals hiding behind the Minister’s publicly declared wishes of getting me killed.”

The governor demanded a public apology from the Minister of Finance and both MDC formations, stating that the ‘Governor did not “kill” this economy and that he is not a member of Al-Qaeda nor does he deserve to be shot by the “firing squad”.’

Analysts say if indeed Biti and the law firm committed a crime, then the law should take its course. But most companies and individuals in Zimbabwe were forced to externalise funds in order to survive – and this was all because of the bad economic policies of the Mugabe regime.

Many ZANU PF officials, including Gono, stand accused of externalising huge funds themselves and yet none of the ruling elite have been brought before the courts.

Furthermore, critics question the motives of exposing such allegations at a time when the MDC is calling on regional leaders to come and help break a deadlock on the posts of the central bank Governor and Attorney General Johannes Tomana.

MDC official Ralph Black dismissed Gono’s letter, saying it was a counter intelligence manoeuvre aimed to divert the attention of SADC and the AU from dealing with the legality of his appointment. He said: “We saw this same technique used with Tendai Biti and the treason trial document, which a High Court judge characterised as good bedside reading from the fictional section of the library.”

“Biti was prosecuted using a document allegedly outlining his attempts to overthrow the government and now he is being accused in concert with his law partners of externalising funds – an activity that allegedly goes back several years.” The MDC official said the crime of externalisation has been used by Gono to takeover companies and prosecute prominent business people in the last few years, but the governor did not have the desire to takeover a law firm or to prosecute a prominent opposition politician, even when he allegedly had information that was potentially incriminating. Black said: “This is nothing but elevated tea boy politics.”

The MDC official said this is an old Arabian tactic, to question the integrity of your critics. He said ZANU PF is seeking to muddy the waters because they are like catfish. “They only live off the filth that they generate. If the waters become clear they have no life.”

Western government have refused to give full financial backing to the Zimbabwe government until there is evidence of equal power sharing by the political parties – and the unresolved issue of the RBZ governor and the Attorney General only makes things worse.

See Gono's letter