Zanu PF in currency scandal

From ZWNEWS - 30th April, 2009

In every country, bank notes carry unique serial numbers which are never repeated, except, it seems, in Zimbabwe. Dealers in the USA, Germany and South Africa who sell pristine-quality paper money to collectors are turning up Zimbabwe dollar notes with duplicate numbers, especially on the $100bn "Agro-cheques" that were released last year. According to Richard Oaten, a former UN contractor who worked in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the practice of printing more that one set of currency was common under late dictator, Mobuto Sese Seko. "As I understand it, the old Zaire would produce one set of notes for circulation, but a second, third, even a fourth printing with the same numbers, went to the president for his own use or to be swapped on the black market for US dollars," Mr Oaten told ZWNEWS.

"This way it appeared to the IMF and World Bank that Zaire was being responsible with the amount of currency it released at any one time, but the reality was quite different," he said. "It seems that Zimbabwe may well have been doing the same thing." Tom Crompton, a US bank-note collector from Illinois, says that several dealers have turned up more than one Zimbabwe note with the same serial number. Newspapers have been printing copies of the double notes which, he says, "cause a great deal of excitement within the trade." Rumours of a double printing have abounded in Harare for some time, with speculation that one set of notes was produced for general circulation, while a second set - with the same numbers - was trucked to Zanu PF for use by the party, the army and youth militia, while some was exchanged for hard currency. Zimbabwe finance minister, Tendai Biti, has suspended all printing of Zimbabwe dollars and asked for a full audit of the Reserve Bank.