Despot and Dictator President Robert Mugabe of impoverished Zimbabwe signed a power sharing agreement recently with Morgan Tsvangirai just before locking up two of its most prominent members.
Cholera grips Zimbabwe. One fourth of all Zimbabweans are exiled abroad. Hyperinflation stalks the land. People are starving. Zimbabwe, the former white ruled Rhodesia where the natives were excluded by white colonials was capable of feeding its own people and was described as the bread basket of Africa.
Mugabe is banned from the European Union and the United States. Grasping Grace Mugabe (44) wife of 84 year old Mugabe, his former mistress and secretary, has visited Asia, specificaly Hong Kong, Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia in order to purchase properties for their inevitable exile from justice. Mugabe has developed strong contacts with intermediaries in Malaysia where they are believed to have property and bank accounts. The only overseas branch of a Zimbabwean bak is found in Malaysia. Grace and Robert Mugabe are fully funded by the Zimbabwean Central Bank. The Mugabes like to visit Singapore, Hong Kong and Bangkok specifically the Meritus Mandarin Hotel, Singapore, the Shrangri-La in Hong Kong and the InterContinental in Bangkok. Entire hotel floors insulate the Mugabes from unwelcome riff-raff.
Mugabes financial dealings are shabby, involving clandestine paper work and hotel bills settled with bags of cash. In November 2008 the United States treasury department tightened sanctions against Mugabe and his associates who kept him in power by means of violent intimidation of opponents who had defeated him and his party at the polls. All of Mugabe's assets and those of his associates within United States jurisdiction were frozen. Western governments state categorically that Mugabe runs one of Africa's most corupt regimes and that he has siphoned off millions of pounds from Zimbabwe into bank accounts and properties.
Mugabe and grasping Grace will very soon have to worry about the security of their Far Eastern investments. These will come under closer scrutiny in Hong Kong where new money laundering laws have enacted a special category of 'politically suspect persons' for surveillance. Experts say regulators are obliged to monitor their transactions.
The Hong Kong legislation defines such persons as those persons from countries 'where corruption is widespread' and includes such risk factors as 'unexplained wealth', the use of accounts at a government bank and any request for secrecy.
Why has Mugabe lasted so long? South African President Thabo Mbeki supported him for a long time until he resigned last year. Incoming President Jaco Zuma promises to deal with Mugabe. Will he?
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