New Evidence Links Zimbabwe’s Intelligence Agency to Company Accused of Widespread Voter Intimidation

New Investigative Report by The Sentry Widens Spotlight on Business Interests of Central Intelligence Organisation Notorious for Human Rights Abuses

International Firms and Banks Urged to Heighten Diligence on Forever Associates Zimbabwe

 

30 May 2023 (London) – A new investigative report by The Sentry adds to accumulating evidence linking Zimbabwe’s Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) to a politically affiliated operation allegedly involved in voter intimidation.

The report warns banks and firms doing business with Forever Associates Zimbabwe (FAZ) of an array of risks, including potentially providing support to a state security agency notorious for human rights abuses and undermining democracy. Among critical recommendations, the report urges heightened banking due diligence as well as further inquiries into the company’s ownership structure.

John Prendergast, Co-Founder of The Sentry, said, “The Sentry has published the list of Forever Associates Zimbabwe trustees and found several of them have links to the CIO’s deputy director general. The CIO’s claims that it has nothing to do with Forever Associates Zimbabwe ring hollow given what The Sentry has uncovered. FAZ needs to urgently answer the question, ‘Where does its money come from?’ Claiming they got millions from ‘anonymous well-wishers’ won’t cut it.”

The Sentry’s findings add to and support the continuing revelations of investigative news reports, including by Zimbabwe’s NewsHawks, on the extensive and often secretive business interests of the CIO.

Selected report excerpts:

• The Forever Associates Zimbabwe (FAZ) trust, set up to help the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) win the 2023 elections, was established by associates and family members of Asher Walter Tapfumaneyi, the deputy director general of the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO). Both Tapfumaneyi and FAZ deny that the CIO controls the trust. However, this alert provides further details about the past business dealings of Tapfumaneyi and one of FAZ’s trustees that help confirm Zimbabwean media reports about the spy chief’s relationship to the entity.
• FAZ declined to identify its funders, claiming that it is financed by “well wishers who prefer not to be named.”
• FAZ’s official deeds reveal that its trustees and founders include Tapfumaneyi’s family and associates, including Tangisai Tapera, his key ally and business partner in a past oil deal with Iran.
• FAZ’s activities—including a large get-out-the-vote operation—may have helped the ruling party win the election. Observers, including the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and European Union (EU) poll monitors, reported FAZ’s presence at thousands of polling stations, where its reported links to ZANU-PF and the security services may have intimidated rural voters. FAZ also spent at least $4 million—a

large sum of money in Zimbabwean politics—importing 160 or more Toyota Hilux pickup trucks for ZANU-PF candidates. FAZ declined to comment when asked whether their activities intimidated voters or whether their spending tipped the electoral scales toward ZANU-PF.

Report recommendations:

To the government of Zimbabwe

• The government of Zimbabwe should cease using state resources to favor one party.
• Zimbabwean electoral law should be updated to introduce campaign expenditure limits; establish public registers of political donations and expenditure by parties; and extend spending limits and the requirement to register donations and expenditure to party affiliates and other entities who are acting in concert with, or otherwise supporting, a party’s election campaign.

To banks and commercial counterparties

• Banks and firms doing business with the FAZ trust and company should conduct enhanced due diligence consistent with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. They should look into the ownership structure of the entity to identify and mitigate risks associated with the direct or indirect support for a state security agency whose members are accused of human rights abuses and undermining democracy.

 

Read The Sentry’s report: https://thesentry.org/reports/forever-associates-zimbabwe/

For media inquiries or interview requests, please contact: Greg Hittelman, Director of Communications, [email protected]

 

About The Sentry
(Short descriptor for press use: “The Sentry, an investigative organization that tracks corruption”)

The Sentry is an investigative and policy organization that seeks to disable multinational predatory networks that benefit from violent conflict, repression, and kleptocracy. Pull back the curtain on wars, mass atrocities, and other human rights abuses, and you’ll find grand corruption and unchecked greed. These tragedies persist because the perpetrators rarely face meaningful consequences. The Sentry aims to alter the warped incentive structures that continually undermine peace and good governance. Our investigations follow the money as it is laundered from war zones to financial centers around the world. We provide evidence and strategies for governments, banks, and law enforcement to hold the perpetrators and enablers of violence and corruption to account. These efforts provide new leverage for human rights, peace, and anti-corruption efforts. Learn more: www.TheSentry.org