Former first lady Grace Mugabe allegedly made multiple United States dollar cash withdrawals amounting to US$300 000 per day in 2019 from her CBZ Bank account.
Available records show that she made the illegal withdrawals in the weeks just before her husband, Robert Mugabe passed away.
Grace had been named on a long list of powerful individuals who had externalised millions of dollars in foreign currency in early 2018, just after President Emmerson Mnangagwa took over from Mugabe in a military coup.
To access cash withdrawals, Grace would write to a CBZ senior manager in charge of VIP banking identified only as Moyo, who was also her personal banker.
The requests were ritually granted, and Grace’s daughter, Bona Mugabe-Chikore, would then collect the money from CBZ, investigations show.
In one instance — on August 15, 2019 — Grace wrote to Moyo saying: “I wish to withdraw US$300 000 (three hundred thousand United States dollars from my account: Dr Grace N (Ntombizodwa) Mugabe, Kwame Nkrumah branch.”
The letter, seen by the Zimbabwe Independent, was signed by Grace who then sent her emissaries to CBZ to collect the money. The document was stamped as “copy” by CBZ VIP customer services, Kwame Nkrumah Avenue (branch), on August 19, 2019 — exactly four days after Grace had made the request.
