In the first of a four-part investigation on gold smuggling in Africa titled Gold Mafia, the Investigative Unit of Al Jazeera has discovered that gold smuggler Alistair Mathias exports almost $40 million worth of gold every month.
The first episode primarily focuses on Southern Africa, especially Zimbabwe, where a niece of President Mnangagwa is identified as the cartel boss behind the alleged gold smuggling scheme.
Canadian national Alistair Mathias is accused of handling money laundering for individuals from all across the world, including African leaders and Russians.
According to the Al Jazeera investigation, Mathias, who is located in Dubai, employs a web of businesses and refineries to ensure that money “gets moved around.”
“You sold it to a refinery, and the cash was deposited into your bank account. Therefore, it’s really clean that way,” he informed the spies for Al Jazeera.
Ewan Macmillan, a talkative and boisterous gold smuggler, employs Mathias. Early in the 1990s, when Macmillan was just 21 years old, he was imprisoned for the first time for smuggling gold. He claims he has visited prison on numerous occasions since then.
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He now collaborates with the same Zimbabwean state apparatus that once sought to have him arrested. Macmillan, also known as Mr. Gold, is one of a group of smugglers who all collaborate with Fidelity, Zimbabwe’s government-run refinery, along with Pattni. He also knows Simon Rudland, a wealthy Zimbabwean man who has been charged by South African authorities.
According to Mathias, he “moves” gold valued at between $70mn and $80mn around every month. Apart from Zimbabwe, he listed Ghana, South Africa and Zambia among the countries that Macmillan and he can “export” gold from. Macmillan told Al Jazeera reporters that Mathias also works with “the Russians”.
Mathias, initially uncomfortable about Ewan Macmillan’s boastful attitude in front of Al Jazeera reporters, then explained what they needed to do in order for him to help launder their cash — set up a company in Dubai that they could claim was involved in the gold trade.
When asked for a formal comment about the findings of Al Jazeera’s investigation, Mathias denied that he designed mechanisms to launder money and said that he had not laundered money or traded illegal gold for Russian clients or anyone else. He told us he had never had any working relationship with Macmillan.
