The Gold Mafia

Who are the Gold Mafia? Godmen, conmen and a president’s niece​

Gangs that smuggle gold and launder money, that is what the Gold Mafia investigation is about. But who are they exactly?

By Al Jazeera Investigative Unit
Published On 23 Mar 202323 Mar 2023

They are rival gangs — with many different characters. From new-age pastors to old-school smugglers, and from diplomats to the Zimbabwean president’s niece, Al Jazeera’s latest investigation, Gold Mafia, has uncovered a band of criminals driving gold smuggling and money laundering worth billions of dollars in Southern Africa.

These are some of the key individuals running the mafia.

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Gold Mafia - Episode 1 - The Laundry Service I Al Jazeera Investigations​

Mar 23, 2023

51:31

Undercover reporters pose as gangsters with up to a billion dollars of black money that need to be cleaned. They gain remarkable access to members of Africa’s Gold Mafia and film closed door meetings with crime bosses.

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

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

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 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. And the investigation leads to the highest offices of southern Africa.

From the video's intro;

"Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit looks at how society’s obsession with gold underwrites a global shadow economy"

Hows about that this dirty gold business is part my fault! You guys are probably clean though.

Didn't watch the video yet.

Who are the Gold Mafia? A cigarette don and a man named ‘Dollars’​

Al Jazeera infiltrates some of Southern Africa’s biggest smuggling gangs laundering gold and millions of dollars.

By Al Jazeera Investigative Unit
Published On 30 Mar 202330 Mar 2023

They operate from the shadows. Al Jazeera’s latest investigation, The Gold Mafia, brings their crimes out into the open. Last week, Part 1 of ‘Who are the Gold Mafia?‘ dove into the lives of some of Southern Africa’s biggest money launderers and smugglers, from pastors to diplomats.

Now, in Part 2, meet one of the region’s biggest cigarette moguls, a showoff money launderer and their crafty partners who are plundering their nations of money and gold using a web of highly-placed connections, front companies and carefully doctored documents.

Smoke & Mirrors - Episode 2 I Al Jazeera Investigations​

Mar 30, 2023

59:21

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.

andial said:

From the video's intro;

"Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit looks at how society’s obsession with gold underwrites a global shadow economy"

How's about that this dirty gold business is part my fault! You guys are probably clean though.

Didn't watch the video yet.

Click to expand...

If you don't want to watch the vids the articles are a quick synopsis.

Here's episode # 3. Vid at link for anyone interested.

‘Merchanting’: The code word for the gold mafia’s plunder​

In Al Jazeera’s investigative series Gold Mafia, merchanting is used to launder money. But what exactly is merchanting?

6 Apr 2023

“We do merchanting, that’s it.”

This is how Mohamed Khan, one of South Africa’s biggest money launderers, described his approach to hiding vast amounts of illicit cash from authorities.

That code word for laundering sits well with the man known better by his street name, Mo Dollars. Over the last decade, Khan has built a legend as a go-to figure for people wanting to clean their dirty money in Southern Africa.

He helps some of the region’s wealthiest people legitimise millions of dollars of unaccounted cash through a sophisticated web of front companies, bribes and fake invoices, thousands of documents and interviews with Khan’s former colleagues, brother and ex-wife have revealed.

Mo Dollars is a central figure in Al Jazeera’s four-part investigation, Gold Mafia, into gold-smuggling and money-laundering operations in Southern Africa. The investigation reveals how competing gangs have infiltrated state institutions, airlines and banks in Zimbabwe and South Africa to launder piles of money using gold.

“He’s sort of held up as a sort of shadowy figure that controls money laundering in South Africa,” money laundering investigator Paul Holden told Al Jazeera.

Lots more:

Zimbabwe will investigate allegations of money laundering and gold smuggling that were aired in an Al-Jazeera documentary last month, the government said in its first response to the broadcaster’s revelations.

“Government takes the allegations raised in the documentary seriously, and has directed relevant organs to institute investigations into the issues raised,” Information Minister and Publicity Minister Monica Mutsvangwa said in a statement in the capital, Harare, on Tuesday. “Any person found to have engaged in acts of corruption, fraud or any form of crime will face the full wrath of the law.”
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Over a hundred people took to President Emmerson Mnangagwa's social media handles to vent their frustrations at revelations of massive looting by those close to him, termed Gold Mafia by international broadcaster Al Jazeera.

Al Jazeera's Investigative Unit unearthed how Mnangagwa's niece Henrietta Rushwaya, Special Envoy to Europe and the Americas Uebert Angel, benefactors Ewan Macmillan and Simon Rudland were stripping the country of its gold while also using it to clean hundreds of millions in dirty US dollars each week.
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According to state-controlled Herald newspaper, Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe's (RBZ) Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) has frozen accounts of all those implicated in the four-part documentary with the exception of Rushwaya.
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Here's part 4. Vid at link.

Gold mafia helped Gupta brothers in South Africa state capture​

Al Jazeera investigation reveals a well-known money launderer as a previously missing link in the Gupta state capture.

One of South Africa’s biggest money launderers was behind three companies that played a key role in the country’s state capture by the controversial Gupta brothers under former President Jacob Zuma, Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit (I-Unit) has found.

The three companies, Varlozone, Zokubyte and Coral General Traders, were identified by the Zondo Commission — an investigation set up by the South African government — as conduits used for fraud and the capture of state funds by a small group of South African politicians and businessmen.

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Calls are starting now to audit the RBZ:

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Forensic Audit or Investigation of Reserve Bank

The Reserve Bank is a vital cog in the country’s economy and it is essential for it to maintain a spotless reputation for competence, fiscal responsibility and probity.

The Al Jazeera series, coming on top of the Bank’s illegal quasi-fiscal activities, have tarnished its reputation and sown suspicion within financial markets, multi-lateral financial institutions and the general Zimbabwean public.

In the interests of transparency and accountability an investigation should be undertaken to ascertain precisely what the Bank and its subsidiary companies have been and are doing and whether their activities have been lawful.
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From the link:

South Africa has launched an investigation into several people involved in a gold smuggling and money laundering scheme exposed by Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit.

In a speech to the Parliament of South Africa, President Cyril Ramaphosa said this week the investigation was in the “inquiry stage”.

I notice how South Africa is now on a worst offender list ever since Ramaphosa came out saying it wasn't Putin who "started that old crazy Asian war"

A member of Zimbabwe President's family has been convicted of trying to smuggle gold worth over $330,000 (£272,000).

Henrietta Rushwaya, who is president of Zimbabwe Miner's Federation, was caught with bars weighing 6kg in 2020.

She was travelling from Harare to Dubai when the contents of her handbag were picked up by the airport scanner.

Ms Rushwaya said she had picked up the wrong bag, but she was charged with presenting an invalid export licence.

All exports of gold must be accompanied by a permit.

Ms Rushwaya is not related by blood to Zimbabwe's president but in the traditions of their Shona ethnic group, she is considered his niece.

She has been remanded into custody and awaits sentencing on 10 November.

Ms Rushwaya was charged alongside two agents from the country's national intelligence agency, who were both acquitted due to lack of evidence.

Her conviction follows an undercover investigation by journalists from Al Jazeera.
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To curb the flow of gold and oil-funded resources to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war chest, the UK government has targeted individuals, companies, and organisations that are aiding in funding Putin’s operations. They have added 29 new names to their sanction list, including Howard ‘Howie’ Baker, a key player in what Al Jazeera has termed the Southern African Gold Mafia. Baker owns the Rappa gold refinery near Johannesburg, which is licensed by the South African authorities and is currently under investigation by the South African Revenue Service.

In an interview with Biznews, Yusuf Abramjee from Tax Justice South Africa said that the UK government’s move is another indication of the weight of evidence amassing against the ‘Gold Leaf Mafia.’ Abramjee questioned why seven months after Al Jazeera’s revealing documentary, none of the identified players had been prosecuted in South Africa. He urged the government to take action against organised criminal gangs in South Africa and suggested that as an initial step, the South African assets of those implicated in the Gold Mafia should be frozen immediately.

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Timestamps
00:08 - Introductions
00:59 - Yusuf Abramjee on the Gold Mafia money laundering network
04:11 - The Authorities are not acting
05:31 - Is there progress on getting off the greylist
08:45 - The difficulty of extraditing the Guptas
11:26 - Would it be better to go after their tax transgressions instead of trying to criminally prosecute them
13:34 - On the minister that was held at gunpoint
15:02 - Conclusions

Zimbabwe Miners Federation (ZMF) president, Henrietta Rushwaya has escaped jail after she was fined and given a wholly suspended sentence following her conviction for attempting to smuggle gold worth US$330 000 to Dubai.

High Court judge, Justice Pisirayi Kwenda fined her US$5 000 and gave a wholly suspended 18 months jail term.

In addition, the gold weighing 6kgs, she was caught trying to smuggle was forfeited by the State.
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https://www.msn.com/en-xl/africa/to...fined-us-5000-6kgs-gold-forfeited/ar-AA1k0Fau

Slapped on the wrist.

INVESTIGATIVE journalists who worked on Qatar-based global news network Al Jazeera's Gold Mafia documentary say whistleblowers and an accountant for one of Africa's most notorious gold dealers confirmed that criminals were making regular payments to President Emmerson Mnangagwa at State House to ensure they operate smoothly.

The journalists said documents they had studied also confirmed the payments. Sara Yeo and Alexander James told The NewsHawks in an interview on the sidelines of the African Investigative Journalism Conference at Witwatersrand (Wits) University in Johannesburg, South Africa, this past week that whistleblowers and Pattni's accountant confirmed that Mnangagwa received regular payments.

Yeo and James told journalists attending the conference that they had no doubt that Mnangagwa was the power behind the rival gangs looting Zimbabwe's gold and that he was receiving payment from criminals.
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More (long):

Zimbabwe Miners Federation (ZMF) president Henrietta Rushwaya has been granted US$500 bail in the case she is accused of duping an Indian investor of over US$1 million in a botched mine deal.

Magistrate Stanford Mambanje granted her bail arguing that the National Prosecuting Authority led by Lancelot Mutsokoti failed to provide compelling reasons to deny her bail. She was remanded to the 10th of April .
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Henrietta Rushwaya seems like a super shady grifter.