•Pattni is said to export gold bars and jewellery from Zimbabwe through his company Suzan General Trading, which allegedly gets paid an incentive by the government to sell gold overseas.
•According to the Al Jazeera expose; the supposed plan, Pattni suggested would mean the dirty money, in US dollars, would be flown to Harare
Image: Courtsey
Controversial businessman Kamlesh Pattni has reportedly moved his gold operations to Zimbabwe and Dubai, an investigation by Al Jazeera reveals.
The investigation dubbed "GOLD MAFIA" details how the controversial businessman allegedly turns dirty money into gold that is exported from Zimbabwe to Dubai, where Pattni supposedly owns several gold-trading companies.
The report is contained in a four-part series investigating some of Southern Africa’s alleged gold smugglers and money launderers by undercover Al Jazeera reporters.
The reporters who pretended to be Chinese criminals were reportedly offered several options by Pattni to launder more than $100 million (Sh13 billion).
Pattni is said to export gold bars and jewellery from Zimbabwe through his company Suzan General Trading, which allegedly gets paid an incentive by the government to sell gold overseas.
According to the Al Jazeera expose; the supposed plan, Pattni suggested would mean the dirty money, in US dollars, would be flown to Harare, where it would be declared as the proceeds of the gold exported by Suzan General Trading.
That money is then used to buy more gold in Zimbabwe, which would then be exported to one of Pattni’s Dubai-based companies.
Owning both the exporter in Zimbabwe and the importer in Dubai is said to give Pattni the opportunity to launder the money, which would then be paid into a Dubai bank account and would appear to come from legitimate gold trade.
During the secretly recorded conversations with Al Jazeera undercover reporters, Pattni claimed that the country’s president, Emmerson Mnangagwa, was seemingly aware of his gold-smuggling and money laundering operations.
When asked about Mnangagwa’s involvement by the undercover reporters, Pattni said: “He knows of course, yes. But he can’t, he will not talk too openly.”
“When you work you must always have the king with you, the president.”
Pattni showed several WhatsApp conversations he allegedly had with Mnangagwa, adding that “he has to be informed”.
The scheme allegedly helps Zimbabwe secure large amounts of US dollars, a hard currency the country can then use on its internal and international markets at a time when its own currency has lost much of its global standing because of hyperinflation.
Kamlesh Pattni was involved in the so-called Goldenberg scam, a gold smuggling operation that reportedly robbed Kenya of $600 million and led to charges of corruption against many members of then-President Daniel Arap Moi’s government.
After years of prosecution, Pattni was acquitted. Since the 1990s, Pattni has cultivated close ties with several leaders all over Africa, and was quick to boast of that proximity while speaking with Al Jazeera’s reporters.
He showed the undercover reporters photos of himself with former Libyan President Muammar Gadaffi, former Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and ex-Kenyan presidents Daniel Arap Moi and Mwai Kibaki.
His rise to power started in his home country Kenya — at a tailor’s shop in Nairobi.
His company-Goldenberg International was granted an exclusive licence to export Kenyan gold, but instead, he allegedly smuggled gold from DR Congo.