Dutch company AMSCO has broken the European sanctions against Zimbabwe. The company’s director, Paul Malherbe has confirmed to Radio Netherlands Worldwide, that the firm did do business with a Zimbabwean diamond mine, River Ranch Diamond Mine. He has ordered a thorough investigation.
 
A number of the political allies of the Zimbabwean President, Robert Mugabe, have shares in the mine, including the former leader of Mugabe’s guerrilla army, Solomon Mujuru and Zanu-PF governor Ray Kaukonde. Both men are on the blacklists of the United States and the European Union. Mr Malherbe says the all dealings with the mine were halted in 2007.

Joint venture
African Management Services Company (AMSCO) is an international company which is registered in the Netherlands. The company is a joint venture of the International Finance Corporation, the commercial arm of the World Bank, and the United Nations Development Programme. The Dutch development bank, the FMO, is one of its investors, as are a number of European development funds including ones in Denmark, Norway, Finland, Portugal and France. The FMO says it will investigate the matter. AMSCO advises companies in developing countries on efficient management.

Banker
The nationalised Dutch ABN Amro bank acts as AMSCO’s banker. But it is unclear whether the bank was aware of the company’s involvement with River Ranch Diamond Mine.
 
The European Union imposed sanctions on Robert Mugabe and other Zimbabwean leaders in 2002, partly because of human rights violations. In 2000, Mugabe supporters, so-called war veterans, seized farms from their white owners after a referendum on land reforms failed. Since then the country has plunged into economic chaos. For a number of years inflation has rocketed and the country has difficulty feeding its own population. In 2008, a cholera epidemic broke out, killing thousands of people. Since the end of 2008, President Mugabe has shared power with the MDC led by Morgan Tsvangirai.