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Zanu PF in currency scandal


From ZWNEWS, 30 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.