If you are into news about some shady business, we’ve got a treat for you! Edward Graham Cross, a critical policy consultant and a former parliamentarian from Zimbabwe, has recently shared his calculations of the country’s rampant corruption volume. And this figure is no less than 20 billion dollars worth of rough diamonds!
If you’d like to know the details, here’s how the story goes. In 2012, Edward Cross intercepted a large-scale fraud involving rough diamonds that came from a newly discovered mining site of Marange Fields. Their total area is roughly estimated to be at least 100,000 hectares, and the total annual yield is on par with Botswana. The mining site has been in operation since 2006, however, a large part of rough diamond finds has likely ended up in someone’s cunning hands.
The under-the-table dealings are deeply engraved in the country’s policy-making: “It is well known that in certain ministries if you want a decision of any sort, you have to pay for it.” And the large part of such payments has been in the form of illegally sourced diamonds, according to the former member of the Zimbabwean Parliament.
Parliament of Zimbabwe
The Ministry of Mines allegedly took over a large part of the Marange deposits. Their yields were distributed between six big players on the market who are all connected to the same criminal network which goes all the way up to the government. According to Eddie Cross, those yields amount to about 30 billion dollars, but at least two halves of that are nowhere to be found.
This really bad case of “misplaced diamonds” has attracted countless journalists, politicians, and media figures who are all wondering who might be behind those dealings. For example, former Prime Minister Robert Mugabe famously accused others of stealing at least 15 billion dollars worth of diamonds. But according to Eddie Cross, Mugabe himself had a quite hearty helping of “cookies from a cookie jar”, if you know what we mean. Now, we don’t know if turning the blame on someone is the best reputation-saving strategy, but when it comes to “misplaced” diamonds, it might as well be. Gold is another thing that commonly becomes “misplaced” in Africa. According to Edward Cross, almost 450 tons of this precious metal bought by Gold Exchange in Dubai in the previous year was unaccounted for.
For better or for worse, we don’t know how much of this article is true and how much is a product of political games. At the highest echelons of power, the truth becomes a subjective concept that can be easily modified according to one’s liking (not to mention, according to the depth of one’s pocket). This is why we strongly urge you not to voice any harsh claims without cold hard facts and mind your own diamonds and where you place them.
