PRESIDENT Mugabe's announcement that the Government has resolved to set up an Economic Crimes Court to deal with the increasing number of economic crimes is a welcome development that should put a stop to the rot that almost brought the economy to its knees. It is clear that the launch of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ)'s Monetary Policy on December 18 last year, and the Government's anti-graft drive have revealed the ugly face of emergent businesses. An increasing number of economic felonies were unearthed which have overwhelmed the courts as currently constituted. We now need to speed up the creation of the Economic Crimes Court as it is evident that the current courts are ill-equipped to deal with the rising economic crimes. Some of the suspects are released on bail and out they go to tamper with evidence. The white-collar misdemeanours -which are partly responsible for the hyper-inflation the country currently faces - involved huge amounts of money, and impacted negatively on the lives of the majority of innocent people who put their trust in the various institutions. Because the economy and politics are inextricably linked as they drive the modern nation-state, the prevalence of criminals in the economic sector can severely undermine the legitimacy and authority of the State as the hardships so generated are always blamed on the State by the populace.More so, because criminal elements are usually amoral and devoid of any scruples, leaving the economy in the hands of such a hideous bunch exposes the country to the machinations of those willing to manipulate the economic base for political ends, since to criminals, even the State has a price. The mop-up in the financial services sector revealed that the lack of deterrent measures was responsible for the intransigence of a lot of banks which deviated from their core business and speculated with clients' investments, practices which severely undermined the banks' liquidity positions. The recent arrest of CFX Bank executives on allegations of fraud involving $115 billion makes sad and shocking reading, more so when a lot of innocent families were left to contend with a dry festive season as their funds were locked up when the bank was placed under curatorship.
We welcome the promise by the Governor of the RBZ, Dr Gideon Gono, to reveal to the nation full details of who did what and how at Century and CFX. This is, indeed, a welcome departure from the norm. We also applaud the RBZ for rising to the challenge when its credibility was under attack owing to the CFX fiasco. We hear they worked over Christmas and throughout the night with the Governor calling the shots from afar. The alleged fraud at CFX, which evaded three different firms of auditors, is a reflection of the extent of the greed and deviousness of the perpetrators.
The majority of these institutions are beneficiaries of the Government's indigenisation drive. It is, therefore, akin to biting the hand that feeds one, when such beneficiaries engage in activities that severely undermine the Government's drive for a speedy economic turnaround. Throughout the year, Dr Gono has been accused of killing indigenisation when he moved swiftly against some banks. In the case of CFX, he moved a bit slowly and the chickens came home to roost. The slow pace of trials involving economic crimes is no doubt cause for concern. The greed of a few must never be allowed to deprive the majority. We, thus, hail and call for the speedy establishment of the special court.
