In a letter dated October 25 2011 addressed to President Mugabe, Mustrite Investments sought his intervention so that the money it had paid for a licence can be returned.
Conrad Tarupiwa, Mustrite managing director said the company had been vetted and adjudged fit to do business. “We managed to secure an investor and entered into a partnership agreement. The investor was to bring in cutting and polishing material.
However, while we were in the process of machinery logistics (sic) coming into the country our licence was cancelled/suspended pending investigations,” Tarupiwa wrote.
He said that Mustrite had managed to secure an investor on the grounds that a licence had been secured. The company later lost the investor, he claimed.
Tarupiwa said they never bought a single diamond using that licence and hence the plea for Mugabe to intervene for a reimbursement of the licence fee.
“We are humble and law-abiding Zimbabweans. US$20 000 is money that could seriously help our families embark on other ventures,” Tarupiwa wrote. The licence ran from January to December 31 2011.
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According to correspondence seen by The Standard, the ministry suspended the licence on the basis that there were some outstanding issues that had to be addressed first.
“Following careful consideration of the findings of a joint inspection of your diamond cutting and polishing factory in June 2011 by the ministry, Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe and the ZRP Minerals Unit, you are advised that your licence remains suspended until you have regularised the following outstanding issue: no equipment and security systems,” Prince Mupazviriho, permanent secretary in the ministry of Mines wrote in a September 16 2011 letter to Tarupiwa.
“You can write to the ministry requesting another joint inspection once you have addressed the outstanding issue.” But Tarupiwa said there was no way the company would meet what the ministry wants before the licence expires next month.
However, in an earlier letter, the ministry had advised Tarupiwa that the US$20 000 for a licence fee is non-refundable. “More so, failure to secure funding for your project was not caused by the ministry. The licences are issued on assumption that applicants have a strong base to conduct business,” Mupazviriho wrote in a September 5 letter.
