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by Ravi Nair with Abir Dasgupta, Paranjoy Guha Thakurta
On 16 May, these reporters published in The Wire and NewsClick an article investigating the antecedents of a consortium of three companies that came together to set up Star9 Mobility Solutions Private Limited, which was announced as the winner of the auction to acquire Pawan Hans Limited, the public-sector helicopter service provider. The article pointed out that little information was available in the public domain about the Cayman Islands registered Almas Global Opportunity Fund (AGOF), the largest stakeholder in Star9 Mobility.
In this report, we detail the association between AGOF and Kudakwashe Tagwirei, a controversial businessman from Zimbabwe who has been sanctioned by the governments of the United States of America and the United Kingdom. For several years, AGOF acted on behalf of Tagwirei and continued to do so even after sanctions were imposed on him.
Described as Zimbabwe’s “Queen Bee,” Tagwirei is an adviser to Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa and is said to be close to the ruling ZANU-PF (Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front). In a report in the Daily Maverick, a South African newspaper, former Zimbabwean Finance Minister Tendai Bitihas described Tagwirei as a person who controls that country’s food industry, 60% of its gold mines, two of its largest banks, and its sole gold refinery. Announcing the imposition of sanctions on Tagwirei in August 2020, the then US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo described him as a “notoriously corrupt businessman” who had assisted “senior Zimbabwean government officials involved in public corruption.”
Tagwirei and his wife own Sakunda Holdings which started by retailing fuel before diversifying its operations. Before Robert Mugabe stepped down as President of Zimbabwe in 2017 and soon after Mnangagwa became the country’s President, Sakunda received more than $1.6 billion (that was 9.1% of Zimbabwe’s GDP in 2017) worth of government contracts and procurement deals in sectors such as oil, minerals, banking.
Read the full story here:- https://theprobe.in/pawan-hans-sale-cayman-islands-company-in-winning-bid-allegedly-fronted-for-notorious-businessman-from-zimbabwe/