U.S SANCTIONS MNANGAGWA’S ADVISOR, ZIMBABWE’S ‘Queen Bee’ , Kuda Tagwirei , for alleged corruption it said has derailed the nation’s economic development.

U.S SANCTIONS MNANGAGWA’S ADVISOR, ZIMBABWE’S ‘Queen Bee’ , Kuda Tagwirei , for alleged corruption it said has derailed the nation’s economic development.

Tagwirei and Sakunda, the energy company owned by him, were added by the US to its list of specially designated nationals on Wednesday.

“Tagwirei used a combination of opaque business dealings and his ongoing relationship with President Mnangagwa to grow his business empire dramatically and rake in millions of U.S. dollars,”

Filthy rich Tagwirei who holds influence in the Zimbabwe, economy, with business interests across agriculture, mining, banking and the fuel industry, and companies including commodities trader Trafigura Pte Ltd is now under US sanctions.

In September 2019, Zimbabwe’s central bank, The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, froze the accounts of Sakunda’s petroleum unit amid an investigation into Sakunda Petroleum, one of the country’s biggest suppliers, which had a government contract to provide fuel to farmers.

Payments to Sakunda for a state farm-subsidy program championed by president Mnangagwa were effectively made by the central bank printing money. The disbursements led to an 80% surge in the amount of money in circulation, compared with an IMF-set target of 8% to 10%.
Trafigura in February announced that it acquired the 51% controlling stake previously held by Sakunda in the company’s Zimbabwean operations. Sibusiso Ngwenya bloomberg