By Staff Writer
THE Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has rushed to refute corruption allegations by an international news network Aljazeera in a yet to be screened documentary.
The documentary was supposed to be aired last week on Thursday and has since been put on hold for unknown reasons.
According to snippets, the four part film which was secretly filmed by AlJazeera undercover journalists for two years exposes RBZ as Southern Africa’s biggest laundromat.
RBZ governor John Mangudya Monday dismissed the reports as false and malicious.
“RBZ is concerned and disturbed by sensationally wild, false and malicious media reports, carried in snippets of an sunscreen Al Jazeera documentary, produced by the network’s Investigative Unit, purveying the impression that the Bank is “Southern Africa’s laundromat” or “Southern Africa’s laundry service” for an alleged African gold mafia involved in illicit gold dealings, corruption and money laundering.
“It is unbelievable that such bizarre claims, allegedly made by private individuals who have no relationship with the Bank whatsoever, have been elevated to gospel truths and published with reckless abandon,” Mangudya said.
Mangudya also said Aljazeera should have also published RBZ’s responses in their trailer posted on social media.
“Curiously, the leaked snippets of the unscreened documentary omit the Bank’s responses to 32 questions Al Jazeera Investigative Unit posed to the Bank in connection with the allegations.
“In the spirit of transparency and social responsibility, the Bank responded to all the 32 questions in detail on 27 February 2023 and the responses clearly show that the narrative, so far purveyed, is nothing but false,” he said.
The governor also threatened to take legal action against the interviewees and purveyors of what he described as fake news.
“The Bank reserves its rights to take appropriate legal action or initiate necessary sanctions against the interviewees and purveyors of the fake news to protect its fiduciary responsibilities in the national interests,” he said.
