Zimbabwe’s Notorious Intelligence Agency May Have Secret Money Stream

New Investigative Report:
Zimbabwe’s Notorious Intelligence Agency May Have Secret Money Stream

June 6, 2024 (London) – A new investigative report by The Sentry details evidence of a secret stream of money leading to Zimbabwe’s Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO), an agency notorious for political partisanship, repression, and violent abuses. Publicly available information suggests that the CIO controls Terrestrial Holdings, a business conglomerate of companies involved in hemp, solar energy, coal mining, tourism, and golf.

John Prendergast, Co-Founder of The Sentry, said: “An intelligence agency with secret streams of income has unchecked power to pursue its own agendas unleashed from civilian oversight or constraint. With the CIO’s notorious record of abuse and human rights violations, and recently detailed links to voter intimidation efforts, this new evidence of off-budget business operations is a frightening revelation. Civilian control over intelligence and security forces requires full and accountable financial control.”

CIO-linked companies Terrestrial Mining and Whitelime Mining have been awarded coal mining concessions covering 50,000 hectares near Lake Kariba in western Zimbabwe, an area close to large proposed and existing coal-fired power plants.

Today’s investigative exposé follows another report by The Sentry published last week, which detailed evidence that a CIO leader had helped establish Forever Associates Zimbabwe, a ruling party affiliate organization linked to widespread intimidation of rural voters in the 2023 national election.

A representative for both Terrestrial Holdings and Terrestrial Mining said that claims of CIO control or ownership were not true.

Key recommendations in the report

To the government of Zimbabwe:

-The government of Zimbabwe should dissolve the CIO’s businesses, wind up its investment branch, and ensure through appropriate national security legislation that there is, in future, just one source of revenue for the agency, voted for by Parliament in the annual budgeting process. This would enable better oversight and accountability and allow for security priorities to be balanced against other civilian funding requirements during the budgeting process.

-The government should introduce an online, public corporate registry of directors and beneficial owners to replace Zimbabwe’s difficult-to-access paper-based system in which up-to-date information is often missing. At present, the records for Terrestrial Holdings and another CIO-linked business, Chimanimani Logistics, are missing from the company registry, while the records for Whitelime Mining appear to be out of date.

To banks and commercial counterparties:

-Banks and firms doing business with Terrestrial Holdings and related companies should conduct enhanced due diligence—consistent with the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights—into the ownership structure of the entity to identify and mitigate risks associated with direct or indirect support for a state security agency whose members are accused of human rights abuses and undermining democracy.

-Companies operating in Zimbabwe’s coal mining sector should conduct ongoing due diligence consistent with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains of Minerals From Conflict-Affected and High-Risk Areas, with particular attention paid to identifying and mitigating risks associated with direct or indirect support for the state security agency, whose members are accused of human rights abuses and undermining democracy.

Read The Sentry’s new investigative report: https://thesentry.org/reports/cio-business-network-zimbabwe/

Read our prior report on CIO links to Forever Associates Zimbabwe, published last week: 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