Al Jazeera’s expose into gold smuggling by cartels linked to President Emmerson Mnangagwa, cash-for-access to the Zimbabwe leader and a plot to smuggle a large amount of cash from Hong Kong to Zimbabwe will be heard in the House of Lords in the United Kingdom.
This comes after the United Kingdom based preacher was secretly filmed by undercover Al Jazeera journalists committing to laundering over a billion US dollars on behalf of the journalists who posed as criminals seeking to clean their money.
The four-part “Gold Mafia” documentary also implicates the first family, gold dealer Ewan MacMillan, Zimbabwe Miners Federation boss Henrietta Rushwaya, among other big names.
Speaking through his lawyer Lovemore Madhuku, Angel last week distanced himself and the first family from any illicit gold deals insisting his meeting with the Qatar based news network’s staffers was part of a “national intelligence operation” that sought to investigate whether the undercover journalists were genuine investors or not.
The Zimbabwe government says it has frozen Angel’s assets pending an investigation into claims of gold smuggling and money laundering by the Zimbabwe ambassador at large and other individuals implicated in the documentary.
However, despite unverifiable claims of a blanket asset freeze on the individuals’ assets, no arrests have been made yet on any of them.
Ordinary Zimbabweans remain skeptical over the government’s promises to take a firmer stand into the allegations after a lot of corruption cases involving politically connected citizens have been swept under the carpet even when there is overwhelming evidence against them.
In written questions seeking the UK government’s attention, Lord Jonathan Oates, a member of the House of Lords, wants Angel and UK-based companies probed for their possible role in international financial terrorism networks.
“Lord Oates to ask His Majesty’s Government what steps they will take, if any, to address the allegations of criminal activity made against British citizens in the Al Jazeera documentary, Gold Mafia.
“Lord Oates to ask His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of allegations of corruption and money laundering contained in the Al Jazeera documentary Gold Mafia, and what steps, if any, they will take to freeze assets held in the UK or dependent territories by those who have been (1) alleged to have engaged in, and (2) found guilty of, financial crime.
“Lord Oates to ask His Majesty’s Government what steps they will take, if any, to investigate alleged discrepancies in the application that Uebert Angel, Zimbabwe’s Ambassador at Large, made for British citizenship.
“Lord Oates to ask His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of whether British citizen Uebert Angel should retain diplomatic status as Zimbabwe’s Ambassador at Large,” read parts of the UK’s parliament questions seeking written answers.
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