Grace Mugabe, wife of Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe, traveled to Hong Kong to invest in two ventures: a diamond polishing plant and a residential property in northern Hong Kong for $5.6 million.  According to Partnership Africa Canada (PAC), the government of Zimbabwe was responsible for the killing of artisanal alluvial miners in order to remove them from the country’s diamond fields.  PAC also suspects that Zimbabwe is holding over 1.3 million carats of diamonds, which they could use some day as payment for weapons. 

Mugabe’s checkered past includes looting Zimbabwe’s diamond fields and smuggling them into China through Australian airspace.  According to RTTNews, one flight alone last year carried 15 tons of unspecified “palace cargo” to Beijing in exchange for weapons.  Sources in Zimbabwe claim that the Mugabes have millions of dollars at a bank in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 

Although Mugabe and most of his suspected associates are under a limited international travel ban that prevents them from entering the US and European Union, they are free to travel throughout most of Asia.  Local authorities have made no moves yet, although new money-laundering laws in Hong Kong include restrictions on “politically exposed persons”, which could include the Mugabes.  Chinese authorities are, however, resistant to make any moves to stop the Mugabes from investing in the country, claiming that Hong Kong is a “free port”, and that anyone can do business there.
 

<< Newer Article Diamond Industry Older Article >>