{"id":46604,"date":"2021-09-13T18:23:19","date_gmt":"2021-09-13T16:23:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/?p=46604"},"modified":"2021-09-13T17:52:31","modified_gmt":"2021-09-13T15:52:31","slug":"british-american-tobacco-bribed-robert-mugabe-to-have-illegal-surveillance-charges-dropped","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/british-american-tobacco-bribed-robert-mugabe-to-have-illegal-surveillance-charges-dropped","title":{"rendered":"British American Tobacco Bribed Robert Mugabe To Have Illegal Surveillance Charges Dropped"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press<\/a> – Zimbabwe<\/a>. <\/strong><\/span>An investigation by BBC Panorama has found evidence that suggests one of the world\u2019s largest tobacco companies, British American Tobacco (BAT), bribed the late Robert Mugabe to have its illegal surveillance charges dropped.<\/p>\n

Leaked documents show that BAT contracted a South African private security company, Forensic Security Services (FSS) to sabotage BAT\u2019s rivals. Officially, FSS was contracted to fight the black-market cigarette trade, however former employees told the BBC that the security company broke the law to sabotage BAT\u2019s rivals.<\/p>\n

In one operation, FSS staff were instructed to close down three cigarette factories run by BAT\u2019s competitors in Zimbabwe. FSS paid an unnamed Zimbabwean firm to conduct surveillance on a Savanna Tobacco factory in 2012, but the company got caught.<\/p>\n

Three of the firm\u2019s directors were charged in connection with the illegal surveillance. The arrests prompted the then president, Robert Mugabe, to make a speech condemning the men\u2019s actions and BAT\u2019s suspected involvement. A man who was sent by BAT to negotiate a deal with Mugabe who spoke to Panorama said he bribed a number of government officials to secure a meeting to discuss the arrested directors\u2019 case.<\/p>\n

Documents seen by the BBC confirm that the man was provided with the equivalent of US$12,000 in local currency. They also suggest the money for the bribes was provided by BAT. A memo suggested that the amount of the donation would be in the region of between USD300,000 to USD500,000 to Zanu PF.<\/p>\n

While the leaked documents do not show if the bribe was paid, the three directors were released within days of the deal being offered. BBC reports that BAT declined to answer Panorama\u2019s questions about the Zimbabwe payments, but it did not deny paying a bribe to Robert Mugabe.<\/p>\n

It is against UK law for a British company to pay bribes, no matter where the payment takes place.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. An investigation by BBC Panorama has found evidence that suggests one of the world\u2019s largest tobacco companies, British American Tobacco (BAT), bribed the late Robert Mugabe to have its illegal surveillance charges dropped. Leaked documents show that BAT contracted a South African private security company, Forensic Security Services (FSS) to sabotage BAT\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":46603,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,35,12,15],"tags":[1493,2189,6291,6292,30,19],"class_list":{"0":"post-46604","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-all-news","8":"category-homepage-english","9":"category-policy","10":"category-twitter","11":"tag-africa-press","12":"tag-africa-press-zimbabwe-2","13":"tag-british-american-tobacco-bat","14":"tag-corruption-in-zimbabwe","15":"tag-robert-mugabe","16":"tag-zimbabwe"},"yoast_head":"\nBritish American Tobacco Bribed Robert Mugabe To Have Illegal Surveillance Charges Dropped - zimbabwe<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"An investigation by BBC Panorama has found evidence that suggests one of the world\u2019s largest tobacco companies, British ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/british-american-tobacco-bribed-robert-mugabe-to-have-illegal-surveillance-charges-dropped\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"British American Tobacco Bribed Robert Mugabe To Have Illegal Surveillance Charges Dropped\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"An investigation by BBC Panorama has found evidence that suggests one of the world\u2019s largest tobacco companies, British ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/british-american-tobacco-bribed-robert-mugabe-to-have-illegal-surveillance-charges-dropped\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"zimbabwe\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-09-13T16:23:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-09-13T15:52:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2021\/09\/img-613f73a556b71.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"506\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/british-american-tobacco-bribed-robert-mugabe-to-have-illegal-surveillance-charges-dropped\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/british-american-tobacco-bribed-robert-mugabe-to-have-illegal-surveillance-charges-dropped\",\"name\":\"British American Tobacco Bribed Robert Mugabe To Have Illegal Surveillance Charges Dropped - 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