Gold Mafia: Simon Rudland Demands Public Apology From Al Jazeera
Zimbabwean businessman, Simon Rudland, has demanded a public apology from Al Jazeera Investigations after he was named as part of the “gold mafia” and the biggest funder of smuggling activities in Zimbabwe in a documentary that premiered recently.
During an undercover investigation by Al Jazeera journalists, self-confessed gold smuggler Ewan Macmillan alleged that Rudland was the major financier of the gold smuggling in Zimbabwe and was owed about US$200 million by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ).
Episode One of the Al Jazeera documentary titled “The Laundry Service”, alleges that Rudland launders money through both Zimbabwean and South African companies.
MacMillan, a self-confessed gold smuggler who was exposed by undercover Al Jazeera journalists, said:
He (Simon Rudland) bankrolls this whole country. If he wants, he phones up the governor, the reserve bank governor. ‘Hi, I want a meeting. Okay, fine. What time?’ ‘I am coming at 11. Okay, fine.’
He is massive. He is one mother***, my friend. You have no idea, how big he is.
Rudland, who is the owner of Gold Leaf Tobacco, also indicated he will be suing Al Jazeera over the broadcast. Reads his statement:
I deny all allegations made against me concerning gold smuggling, money laundering, or collusion with any government.
The allegations are false and are made without any proof and the documentary is extremely sensational, this propaganda is injurious to my good name.
I urge Al Jazeera to retract their statements and issue a public apology.
Notwithstanding this, I will in any event be instituting legal action against the media house for severe reputational harm caused.
The four-part Al Jazeera documentary titled “Gold Mafia”, also implicated President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s Special Envoy Uebert Angel, the President’s niece Henrietta Rushwaya, and Kamlesh Pattni in alleged gold smuggling and money laundering activities in Zimbabwe.
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