Directors belonging to the two companies illegally mining in the hotly disputed Marange diamond fields have been hogging the limelight for the wrong reasons in the past two weeks. The first scandal involves two directors belonging to Mbada Diamonds who fled with two boxes carrying diamonds worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Mbada Chief Executive Officer Mr Mukwekwezenge and one of the company directors George Van Veck fled with two boxes that were supposed to be airlifted to Harare International Airport about a week ago.
The two are believed to have escaped through Mozambique. Diamonds mined by Mbada are ferried by a company helicopter to Harare International Airport where the company has
established its head office. On this particular day the two directors loaded empty boxes to the helicopter and fled with the boxes carrying the precious stones. Close sources say the two were acting in collaboration with some very senior government officials, adding that there is no way the scam could have succeeded without the cooperation of some powerful individuals within government. Further, no police report was made about the theft.
