Tobacco cartels: Bindura Tobacco Company bleeds TIMB US$1million in unpaid debt

Harare- A well orchestrated cartel of tobacco merchants and dodgy contractors has emerged, incapacitating farmers and bleeding the government purse, Express Mail Zim can reveal.

Investigations by Express Mail Zim established that a contractor Bindura Tobacco Company which benefited from the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) ‘s tobacco financing facility wantonly neglected to settle more than US$1 million dollars extended to them by TIMB under the RBZ- funded scheme to support their contracted growers with inputs.

The company was allegedly cherry- picked along with three other companies at the behest of suspended TIMB chief executive Meanwell Gudu who is facing fraud charges of US$ 2 million and the matter is sub judice.

Express Mail Zim understands that the contractor was extended a loan of US$1million but only repaid close to US$200 000 excluding the 14 percent interest as stipulated in the Memorandum of Agreement.

“Bindura got the biggest chunk of the facility .
“Remember , after RBZ released the funds to AFC bank, TIMB sourced forex from other industry players including Zimbabwe Leaf Tobacco where a character called Agrippa Bganya was a leaf manager and he has major interests in Bindura Tobacco Company.
“These guys work in cartels and they manipulate everything including dictating prices,” said our well placed source and top industry player who preffered anonymity.

Another source said the company was so well connected to the extent of absconding an invitation to Parliamentary Committee for Lands, Agriculture and Climate where they were supposed to appear Monday.

The company’s finance director Brian Mudzamba however vehemently denied any Parly invitation and our efforts to cross -check with the Clerk of Parliament Kennedy Chokuda hit a snag at the time of writing.

” Bindura Tobacco has not received any invitation to appear before Parliamentary Committee for Lands, Agriculture and Climate,” said Mudzamba.

On the allegations of failing to repay, Mudzamba said his company committed 60 percent of their contractual obligations.

“Bindura Tobacco entered a legally binding Management Agreement to distribute inputs worth $1 027 371 to farmers on behalf of TIMB.

“It is not true that not a single cent was paid, in fact, 60% of the inputs distributed to farmers were paid in the first year of the scheme, being the 2020-2021 season,” he explained.

However, contrary to his claims,Express Mail Zim is in possession of a copy of the latest repayment schedule leaked from TIMB which states otherwise.

The schedule states that Bindura Tobacco received US$1.116.275.44 and have repaid US$198.091.54 to date.

Simple Math computes that the contractor owes TIMB a sum of US$869.126.34.

Mudzamba stuck to his guns and reffered us to TIMB insisting that they paid more than the figure stated on the schedule that we gleaned

“You may get from TIMB payments made to date which are way the above US$198 000 you are talking about
“As mentioned before,we are not at liberty to divulge our contractual agreements with third parties.

“I am sure TIMB is in a position to furnish you with all payments done by growers under Bindura Tobacco,” he said

“As said, the payments are over 60% of inputs advanced, and TIMB may provide you with explanations of how they got to the schedule they gave you,” he added.

Express Mail Zim understands that working in an alleged syndicate with the embattled former TIMB boss Gudu, the deal was corruptly designed to support Bindura Company and three other firms with inputs from the RBZ-funded scheme for on-lending to their contracted tobacco growers, giving them a competitive advantage over the other contractors.

According to court records in the Gudu fraud case, Bindura Tobacco and three other contractors would get inputs for free to lend to their contracted farmers at an interest and buy the grown tobacco from the farmers as if they had funded the farmers themselves.