allAfrica.com: Zimbabwe: Treasury Designates Zimbabwean Parastatals and Companies Supporting the Mugabe Regime (Page 1 of 1)

Zimbabwe: Treasury Designates Zimbabwean Parastatals and Companies Supporting the Mugabe Regime

The U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) today designated seventeen entities, including several Zimbabwean parastatals, and one individual whose support for Robert Mugabe's regime contributes to the undermining of democratic processes and institutions in Zimbabwe.

"In light of the continued intransigence of the brutal Mugabe regime, the U.S. is imposing further sanctions against this regime and its supporters," said OFAC Director Adam J. Szubin. "These actions send a clear warning to those who would protect Mugabe and his assets at the expense of the Zimbabwean people."

Today's designations include a number of Zimbabwean parastatals and entities that are owned or controlled by the Government of Zimbabwe. Robert Mugabe, his senior officials, and regime cronies have used these entities to illegally siphon revenue and foreign exchange from the Zimbabwean people. Treasury's designations today include the Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe (a.k.a MMCZ), the sole marketing and export agent for all minerals, except gold and silver, mined in Zimbabwe; the Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (a.k.a. ZMDC), involved in investment in the mining industry in Zimbabwe, and in planning, coordinating and implementing mining projects on behalf of the Government of Zimbabwe; the Zimbabwe Iron and Steel Company (a.k.a. ZISCO), Zimbabwe's largest steel works; the Agricultural Development Bank of Zimbabwe (a.k.a Agribank), a commercial bank owned by the Government of Zimbabwe; the Industrial Development Corporation of Zimbabwe Ltd, a state-owned enterprise that owns a large number of companies operating in the industrial sector, including the chemical, clothing and textiles, mineral processing, and motor and transport sectors; the Infrastructure Development Bank of Zimbabwe, a financing entity; Zimre Holdings Limited, an investment and reinsurance entity; ZB Financial Holdings Limited, a holding company for a group of companies involved in commercial and merchant banking; and 4 major subsidiaries of ZB Financial Holdings Limited: ZB Bank Limited (a.k.a Zimbank), ZB Holdings Limited, Intermarket Holdings Limited, and Scotfin Limited.

Also designated today are Thamer Bin Saeed Ahmed Al-Shanfari, an Omani national with close ties to Mugabe and his top officials, as well as his company, Oryx Natural Resources, which Al-Shanfari uses to enable Mugabe and his senior officials to maintain access to, and derive personal benefit from, various mining ventures in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (the "DRC"). OFAC has also designated OSLEG (a.k.a. Operation Sovereign Legitimacy), an enterprise that is a commercial arm of the Zimbabwean army representing its interests in the DRC and elsewhere, and which is controlled by various senior officials in Zimbabwe. The activities of OSLEG and Al-Shanfari's Oryx Natural Resources, benefiting Robert Mugabe and his regime's senior officials, have been widely documented by various non-governmental and human rights organizations.

Finally, OFAC is designating the following companies that are owned or controlled by a number of Specially Designated Nationals ("SDNs"): Divine Homes, a property company whose Chairman is SDN David Chapfika, Zimbabwe's Deputy Minister of Agriculture; COMOIL (Pvt) Ltd., a petroleum importing company, owned by SDN Saviour Kasukuwere, Zimbabwe's Deputy Minister of Youth Development and Employment Creation; and Famba Safaris, a registered Zimbabwean safari operator, whose Director and major shareholder is SDN Webster Shamu, Mugabe's Minister of State for Policy Implementation.

As a result of Treasury's action, any assets of the individual and entities designated today that are within U.S. jurisdiction must be frozen. Additionally, U.S. persons are prohibited from conducting financial or commercial transactions with the individual or entities.

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