Pandora Paper: Massive Diamond Plunder Exposed in Leak

Details of Rushwaya’s shell company are contained in a massive leak of financial documents published by several major news organisations on Sunday, that allegedly tie world leaders to secret stores of wealth, including King Abdullah of Jordan, Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis and associates of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The dump of more than 11,9 million records, amounting to about 2,94 terabytes of data, came five years after the leak known as the “Panama Papers” exposed how money was hidden by the wealthy in ways that law enforcement agencies could not detect.

The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, a Washington, D.C.-based network of reporters and media organisations, said the files are linked to about 35 current and former national leaders, and more than 330 politicians and public officials in 91 countries and territories. It did not say how the files were obtained.

Rushwaya appears to have set up the company around the time the Zimbabwe Defence Forces entered into a partnership with China’s Anjin diamond company to mine diamonds in Marange. The name of the company – Greatgem – points to an interest in diamonds.

A 2012 report by Global Witness accused diamond companies of funding a parallel securocrat government in Zimbabwe, with diamond revenues funnelled to the partisan security services instead of schools, hospitals and roads.

In 2012, the offshore provider Alpha Consulting Ltd., which set up Greatgem, reported the company to the Seychelles’ Financial Intelligence Unit. Alpha Consulting noted that media reports identified Rushwaya as the director of a diamond-mining company that allegedly “camouflaged the involvement of security forces” and was involved in “off budget” financing.