Fugitive nets mega DTI deal
The department of trade & industry has awarded a major contract to a Chinese businessman accused of stealing from a Zimbabwean mine and wanted by Interpol. Where was the department’s due diligence?
Chinese national Yat Hoi Ning, who is accused of ripping off a mining company listed in London of US$2.76m, has scored a lucrative deal from the SA government. In September last year, Ning was awarded an operator’s licence for the Musina-Makhado special economic zone (SEZ) in Limpopo — which is central to government’s ambitious plan to develop an energy cluster in the province with a project pipeline worth R40bn. But it could prove deeply embarrassing for the SA government, as Zimbabwe’s police have issued a warrant of arrest for Ning over his role in the alleged misappropriation of money from Bindura Nickel Corp (BNC) and the Freda Rebecca gold mine in Zimbabwe, both part of the London-listed ASA Resources Group. Earlier, ASA had laid fraud charges against Ning, its former CEO, and former ASA finance director Yim Chiu Kwan. About 85% of ASA’s value sits in Zimbabwe, where it owns gold and nickel assets, though it also has copper licences in the Democratic Republic of Congo. A year ...
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