"More than $15 billion in diamonds looted, says Mugabe", 4 Mar 2016

In an astonishing confession, Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has revealed that diamonds worth more than $15 billion have been looted in the eastern mining area of Marange...“We have not received much from the diamond industry at all. I don’t think we have exceeded $2 billion yet we think more than $15 billion has been earned,” Mugabe said [on state television, ZTV]...In frank remarks that have stunned Zimbabweans, Mugabe also revealed that the country has failed to learn from neighbouring Botswana, Namibia and Angola on how to manage the diamond sector. The Zimbabwean leader defended [the recent] dramatic eviction of nine diamond-mining companies from the Marange area, including Chinese firms Anjin and Jinan.  The eviction of the diamond companies came a month after the governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, John Mangudya, complained about the non-transparent operations of the firms...