WATCH episode 2 of Al Jazeera money laundering investigation

South Africa’s most notorious money launderer is known as Mo Dollars.

He cleans millions of dollars from the sale of illicit cigarettes through gold.

Confidential documents expose an intricate web of shelf companies and fake invoices that hide a multi-million-dollar operation in plain sight. When the Gold Mafia’s money laundering business outgrows its existing infrastructure, it takes over banks and government departments.

Ledgers reveal the names of bank, immigration, and customs officers, and a central bank governor – all recipients of the mafia’s generous bribes.

Undercover reporters strike a deal with a competing mafia, one that’s close to the Zimbabwean government.

It promises to launder $1.2 billion of dirty cash and guarantees access to executive power.

Gold Mafia, a four-part series by Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit looks at how society’s obsession with gold underwrites a global shadow economy. The undercover team infiltrates the rival gangs that turn dirty cash into gold, which is then sold around the world.

Through exclusive interviews with whistleblowers from within the criminal syndicates, investigators obtain the blueprints of the money laundering operations that service southern Africa’s economic and political elite.

And the investigation leads to the highest offices of state.

 

Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit has produced a four-part series titled Gold Mafia, which explores the shadow economy that is underwritten by society’s obsession with gold.

In the series, undercover reporters pose as gangsters with billions of dollars in black money that needs to be cleaned.

They gain remarkable access to members of Africa’s Gold Mafia and film closed-door meetings with crime bosses. The investigation reveals how rival gangs turn dirty cash into gold, which is then sold around the world.

Criminals offer lucrative deals to clean over $100 million through government gold export schemes, and at the center of their operations is the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, southern Africa’s biggest laundromat.

WATCH EPISODE  2 video below:

Shockingly, a senior African ambassador offers to launder $1.2 million using the cover of his diplomatic bag.

The investigation leads to the highest offices of southern Africa, and through thousands of confidential documents and exclusive interviews with whistleblowers from within the criminal organizations, investigators obtain the blueprints of billion-dollar money laundering operations that service the political elite.

al jazeera