The United Kingdom has imposed an asset freeze and travel ban on Sakunda Holdings proprietor and Zanu PF benefactor Kudakwashe Regimond Tagwirei.
Tagwirei who is President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s ally, was named among four others when UK Foreign secretary Dominic Raab announced further sanctions on individuals under Britain’s Global Anti-Corruption sanctions regime.
The UK sanctions target cases of serious corruption which have deprived developing countries of vital resources. The measures will also apply to any companies owned or controlled by Tagwirei.
UK described Tagwirei’s profile stating: “Both Sakunda and Tagwirei, as its CEO and owner, profited significantly from the misappropriation of property at the expense of wider macroeconomic stability in Zimbabwe, in one of the most serious incidences of corruption under the current government.”
At the beginning of this year the United Kingdom also slapped sanctions on four Zimbabwean security officials over alleged human rights abuses, a move meant to restrict their travel to Britain and freeze their assets.
The three who were put under sanctions include Central Intelligence Organisation chief Isaac Moyo; Zimbabwe Republic Police Commissioner General Godwin Matanga; and Anselem Sanyatwe, a former commander of the presidential guard.
Owen Ncube and Sanyatwe were already targeted for United States sanctions in March last year.
The Zimbabwean government blame sanctions imposed by Western countries in the early 2000s for the country’s economic woes and say they are intended to remove ZANU-PF from power.