All financial institutions in the country have been directed to freeze all the accounts belonging to former ministers Saviour Kasukuwere and Professor Jonathan Moyo by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ). The order also extends to any business and company bank accounts that are associated with the pair.
The pair is yet to appear in public ever since the Zimbabwe Defence Forces launched Operation Restore Legacy which the military said was targeting criminals around former President Robert Mugabe. The pair is reported to have gone into exile.
Here is part of the circular given to the financial institutions.
Directive to all financial institutions
Freezing of accounts re: Prof. Jonathan Moyo and Mr Saviour Kasukuwere (former government ministers)
1) You are directed to identify and immediately freeze:
(i) all accounts in the name of the above-named individuals; and
(ii) any accounts in which the said individuals are directors or have a known beneficial interest.
2) You are further directed to submit, in writing, a return to the Unit, by no later than the 8th of December 2017, listing and giving particulars (including balances) of all the accounts that you would have identified and frozen in terms of this directive.
3) Where you have not identified any relevant account, you shall,nevertheless submit a nil return.
4) Where you are in doubt regarding whether or not any particular account is linked to the named subjects, you shall contact the Unit for further direction.
5) The effect of the freeze is that, (except any inflows into the account, which shall be processed normally and immediately notified to the Unit) no other transaction shall be processed from a frozen account, until further the Unit directs otherwise.
After learning of the directive, Moyo said the country was now operating under the law of the jungle. Speaking on microblogging site Twitter, Moyo said
I see some journalists & social media platforms are awash with this👇🏾extract below. If it is an authentic extract of or from a legitimate official communication, then the law of the jungle is in operation in the so called New Era!👇🏾
The real risk & possibility that bank accounts can be frozen just like that without due process in the so called New Era in Zimbabwe run by the Military, spells doom for ordinary people or businesses and worse for investors!