By Talent Gondo| An intense atmosphere could be felt as one entered the Senate Chambers, (Monday) a room packed with numerous witnesses.

Journalists attending this particular session exchanged harsh words with parliament officials when they were told to vacate their seats and pave way for “invited witnesses” who were either directly or indirectly involved in the missing USD15 billion diamond saga.

It was however saddening to note that one of the key witnesses, former Police Boss, Augustine Chihuri had once again snubbed the Mines and Energy Parliamentary Portfolio hearing.

Home Affairs Minister, Obert Mpofu briefly appeared before the House before he was excused pending the outcome of his letter to the Speaker of Parliament, Jacob Mudenda.

Mpofu has in the past refused to give oral evidence before parliament arguing that as long as the hearings are chaired by independent MP for Norton, Temba Mliswa, he will not cooperate.

All the hope and anticipation that Mpofu would on this day speak were dashed as he exited the House.

As events unfolded during the session, former Commissioner General of Police, Chihuri, who was conspicuous by his absence was repeatedly implicated as the “owner” and only one who ran operations at the diamond mining company, Gye Nyame.

Gye Nyame, was however supposedly granted a mining licence with three entities owning various shareholding percentages which the former top cop allegedly manipulated resulting in the ZRP owning 20 percent up from 5 percent within a week.

The Mines and Energy Parliamentary Portfolio Committee heard how Chihuri verbally gave instructions to his other partner Bill Minerals to up the ZRP’s stake from 5 to 20 percent before ejecting the Ghanaian partners from the country.

Evidence given before parliament exposed how Chihuri allegedly crafted his plan where he ended up deporting them back to Ghana using heavily armed police officers. This was despite that the Ghanaians had invested heavily in Gye Nyame.

Gye Nyame’s shareholders were the Zimbabwe Mining Development Company (ZMDC) owning 50 percent, Bill Minerals, 30 percent and the ZRP Trust 20 percent.

Ex police commissioners who were cited as board members representing the ZRP in Gye Nyame, revealed that they were ceremonious board members whose roles started and ended after they appended their signatures as board members for the diamond company.

Retired Commissioner Mekia Tanyanyiwa did not mince his words baring it all before the Temba Mliswa led Mines and Energy parliamentary portfolio committee revealing that “Chihuri was the Alpha and Omega” of the company which was registered as a ZRP entity.

“There was no paperwork involved and we were verbally appointed as board members by the former Commissioner General of Police,” said the former senior top cop, Tanyanyiwa.

Retired Police Commissioner Grace Ndebele concurred adding that besides conducting the due diligence which they performed soon after being notified of their new appointments at Gye Nyame, the trio were clueless about the diamond firm’s operations including the whereabouts of the diamonds seized from the company’s partners, Bill Minerals.

Retired Police Commissioner Oliver Chibage, who was Chihuri’s right hand man and personal assistant also confessed to parliament that despite being his former boss’ front runner who proposed the initial list of names for consideration as board members, he was not told that the firm had been operationalised and it was already mining.

“I only got to know that the company was functional when I got a call from a partner who was complaining that the ZRP was treating them unfairly. I reached out to my former boss (Chihuri) but I was dismissed. He said that there was no mining taking place and I would be advised when it commenced,” he said.

Former Commissioner Chibage narrated how his former boss gave him duties outside of Harare and how his working environment became “difficult” following his enquiry.

“It became difficult to work because I was constantly redeployed and some of the things that were happening were pointers that made me resign,” said Retired Commissioner Chibage, who revealed that he was now concentrating on his farm and other businesses.

Retired Commissioner Tanyanyiwa told parliament how the three Gye Nyame board members were “retired”.

“I was called by former Commissioner Ndebele and told that the boss had said I must retire from the service and I did,” he said.

He added that this could also be reason why other members from the security sector were reluctant to give their oral evidence truthfully before parliament.

“It could be that they are afraid of being retired,” he said, adding that revelations by some senior cops where they were alleging that they did not know about the 200 member force which descended on the diamond fields when government through the Ministry of Mines took over diamond mining in Marange were false.

“They are scared that they will be retired if they tell you the truth,” said Retired Commissioner Tanyanyiwa.

This opened a can of worms on how Chihuri basically manipulated the system to suit his agenda.

He had cherry picked his lieutenants to ensure the registration of the ZRP Trust which despite contributing nothing to the partnership, had gained value within a week from 5 to 20 percent, thanks to Chihuri’s mouth.

The deportation of the Ghanaian partners were well calculated and it provided him with the opportunity to then make his next move.

Another key witness in the diamond saga, Gye Nyame Project Manager, Itai Munyeza told parliament how Chihuri dispatched a convoy of armed police officers who tracked him to his daughter’s school in Harare while he was doing school run and “escorted” him to his house to drop off the minor.

Like a dangerous criminal who was on the wanted list, the convoy of police details force-marched him to the company’s offices to retrieve keys to the vault before they forced him to hand them over to the ZRP.

“I refused arguing that there was supposed to be a proper hand over take over since there were diamonds in the vault,” said Munyeza.

He revealed one of the names of the police officer leading the team that then forcibly took him to Central Police Station or Charge Office in Harare as one Superintendent Dube.

“I refused to hand over the keys and I was then taken to a dark room where I realised that I must just hand over the keys. I did not have legal representation and I knew that I was now vulnerable because they told me that they were acting on Chihuri’s orders,” said Munyeza.

Munyeza said his company then wrote to the ministers of Mines and Home Affairs as well as to the President’s Office informing them of the development and that the company was no longer a partner at Gye Nyame.

“What happened to the diamonds? Only God knows,” he said.

Former Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZDMC) board chairperson Goodwills Masimirembwa said while he was aware that the ZRP had indeed forcibly taken over the diamond vault and the claims, the board did not know whether anything had been done to redress this anormally.

So what happened to those diamonds and the revenue generated from the mine thereafter?

Acting Commissioner General Innocent Matibili, who stood in for the Commissioner General, Godwin Matanga professed ignorance of the diamond company, adding that nobody in the force, besides Chihuri, knew about Gye Nyame’s operations, revenue generation, management and board members.

“Nobody in the police force knew anything about this company, about its paper work, operations and staff compliments except Chihuri,” said Matibili.

He said all he knew was that government had consolidated mining in Chiadzwa and the ZRP was to deploy officers to assist with security issues.

So if all the top cops did not know about Gye Nyame, who did?

Former Home Affairs Minister Ignatius Chombo also told parliament that despite being Chihuri’s boss, he knew nothing about the diamond mining venture.

Company Secretary for Gye Nyame, Kenneth Mawodzwa, who was also handpicked by Chihuri from the ZRP’s legal department, also confirmed that his former boss was the beginning and end of the company.

“There were lots of problems at the company when I took over. The company’s paperwork was not in order, there was no environmental assessment certificate, the company had no bank account,” said Mawodzwa.

He however confirmed that despite not having all the statutory requirements, mining took place.

“What I can tell you for sure is there were some diamonds that had been mined before, how they were sold, I do not know but Chihuri knows,” he confirmed.

So is Chihuri the missing link in the missing diamonds saga?

Could he be the one with ALL the answers?

Where is he and why is he hiding? Is he really hiding or he is simply being protected because there are “bigger fish” in this puzzle?

The former permanent Secretary in the Mines Ministry, Francis Gudyanga confirmed that there are “dark forces” involved in the diamond saga and he feels threatened.

Who are these “dark forces”?

And why is Mpofu ducking parliament?

There is more to this missing USD15 million diamond saga than meets the eye.