GOSPEL musician and former Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe employee Elias Musakwa has been implicated in a multimillion dollar foreign currency externalisation scam.
The Ngaavongwe Records, former Gramma recording company, proprietor, on Monday appeared on President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s list of ‘looters’ who externalized foreign currency during former President Robert Mugabe’s era.
According to the government list, Musakwa externalised $9 million to Portugal.
Musakwa, who acquired Gramma Records together with the late former air marshal, Josiah Tungamirai, also owns MosiaTunya Studios, Shed Studios and the Zimbabwe Music Corporation. He is also a former RBZ official.
President Mnangagwa, early this month, extended by two weeks a three month amnesty he last year in December gave to individuals and companies who externalised foreign currency.
Issuing the list on Monday, President Mnangagwa said he had been left with no choice but to name, shame and cause the prosecution of those who did not respond to the amnesty, accusing them of having abandoned the “importance of good corporate governance and the legal obligations of citizenry”.
The President said the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) was still open to process transactions where the concerned parties could show proof of declaration and/or repatriation of funds without prejudice given the burden of proof lying with the concerned parties.
Musakwa joined active politics in 2007 after resigning from the RBZ where he was one of the top officials.
He, on three occasions, failed to represent Bikita West constituency in parliament on a Zanu PF ticket.