Kereke pushes for Gono’s arrest over tax fraud

By Staff Reporter

The war of words between former Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor Gideon Gono and his advisor Munyaradzi Kereke has escalated with Kereke writing to the police and the Prosecutor-General seeking the arrest and prosecution of his former boss for alleged fraud involving more than US$400 000. 

In the latest in a series of sensational allegations, Kereke is claiming that Gono deducted tax amounting to US$411 310 from his exit package which he never remitted to the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority. He also copied a letter to Zimra Commissioner-General Gershem Pasi.

Kereke says he retired from the RBZ in January 2012 and was awarded a gross exit package of US$1 361 310, including benefits for eight years of service as advisor to Dr Gono. He says he took home US$950 000 after the taxes were deducted.

Kereke however accused Zimra investigations department official Mr Paul Chingosho of criminal abuse of office in the manner he handled his taxes. He said Gono and Mr Chingosho connived and lied to Zimra that after getting his exit package, he did not pay the taxes.

“Dr Gono deducted and withheld US$411 310.00 from my exit package, but never sent the money to Zimra. Instead, he callously and shamelessly lied that I was paid gross and did not pay taxes. This is criminal. The question is where did Dr Gono put this money which he took from me purporting that it was going to Zimra?”

Kereke accused Gono of being dishonest.

“Dr Gono, a man of his calibre, elected to crucify me through blatant lies that he paid me gross without deducting taxes. The level of dishonesty and culture of telling lies to the machinery of Government is eternally destructive and must not be allowed to happen more so when such people aspire to take positions of authority in Government.”

Kereke said this resulted in Zimra wrongfully penalising him by placing his RMC Hospital under sanctions by imposing 100 percent penalties arguing that his funds invested in the hospital from the exit package had not been taxed.

“This wrongful treatment is all as a result of Dr Gono’s cruel, heartless lies which even today he still presents and circulates to high offices in Government,” he said.

In October 2012 Kereke formally lodged a report with the Anti-Corruption Commission against his former boss.

He claimed that Gono “fraudulently took at least US$15 million in cash from the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe between 2007 and 2008 through Mirirai Chiremba who at that time got the foreign exchange from parallel market purchases and used same to construct Gono’s multi-million dollar residency in Borrowdale, Lunar Road.”

Kereke proceeded to accuse Gono of defrauding the central bank of “US$6.5 million on or around June/July 2008 and that this entire amount was written off the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe’s audited income statements.”

The former adviser says the “money was advanced to a company called Saltlakes Holdings under signature of DR GIDEON GONO under a Memorandum of Deposits (MOD) programme.”

This fraud he says was facilitated through “a convoluted array of write-offs well-orchestrated between DR GIDEON GONO and Saltlakes Holdings.” He says the case was under the active investigation of the police on or around 8 September 2011 but that Gono “openly refused to cooperate” with the police.

Kereke claims that Gono abused public funds “by giving US$200,000.00 cash belonging to the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe to the Financial Gazette, a company in which he is the majority shareholder.” He claims that the editor “Hama Saburi and the CEO received the cash from the RBZ.”

In the letter to the Anti-Corruption Commission Kereke claims Gono “routinely sold gold belonging to the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe using runners and cash from such sales would be given to DR GIDEON GONO for own gain. The writer (Kereke) routinely cautioned DR GONO against this but to no success.”

Kereke says a 2006 audit by Deloitte and Touché picked up that a total of 403.53 ounces of gold coins were missing. Gono was asked about the whereabouts of these coins but responded that “the process of investigating the location of the gold coins is ongoing”.

“Three years later in 2009 when BDO Kudenda and Co where conducting the 2008 Audit, still the gold coins worth around US$350,794.57 at the ruling price of US$869.75 per ounce as at 31 December, 2008 were missing,” Kereke says.

In another case Kereke says the RBZ owned and operated Carslone Mine in the Midlands Province had its ownership fraudulently transferred to a largely private joint venture operation without the approval of the bank’s board. Gono acted “through his subordinate Mirirai Chiremba” he claimed.

“This effectively caused the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe to be defrauded of its gold mine on 1 April 2011. Numerous inquiries by the Parliamentary Committee on Budget and Finance on Carslone went un-responded to by DR GIDEON GONO, further undermining the purity of this transaction,” he said.

The gold deals did not end there.

Kereke claims the central bank under Gono “entered into a very corrupt, detrimental contract” where purified fine gold from the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe was sold to a private jewellery company in Saudi Arabia called Suliman Al Othaim Jewellery “at an incomprehensible discount of 34% at a time Zimbabwe itself was on its knees short of foreign currency.”

Gold worth US$5 million was shipped under “this very weird, fraudulent and reckless contract that was highly prejudicial to Zimbabwe and “the corruption around this transaction is further amplified by the fact that on occasions, DR GIDEON GONO would send Millicent Mombeshora to fly to Saudi Arabia to the jewellery shop which was receiving this mysteriously discounted gold.”

Kereke says “this criminal transaction” was handled personally by Millicent Mombeshora (wife of the Deputy Health Minister Douglas Mombeshora) and that Gono reacted very violently when Kereke unearthed it and confronted him.

When the matter was reported to the state security agents, Kereke claims Gono “poured tirades of abusive words to me in front of all RBZ Board Members taunting that “Kereke don’t waste time reporting me to State Security. I saved this country from collapse so they can’t do anything to me”.

Kereke is embroiled in an acrimonious dispute with Gono, after being sacked from his job in February 2012. Kereke also claimed he is the one who wrote the examinations which earned Gono a doctorate degree.

Kereke claimed his removal from the central bank was calculated to conceal Gono’s criminal activities. The two fell out after Gono alleged that Kereke had authored a 20-page dossier detailing financial misdemeanours at the bank.

In August 2012 Gono filed a US$25 million defamation lawsuit against Kereke claiming the accusations by his former advisor were meant to tarnish his name. Kereke responded with a letter requesting further details of the claim.