by Zimdaily.com
December 1, 2004
HaRaRE- John Bredenkamp, a super rich white Zimbabwean business tycoon has kept the Zimbabwean army afloat by facilitating the clandestine supply of aircraft parts to the Zimbabwean air Force, breaking a UK and European Union arms embargo slapped on Harare two years ago, Zimdaily heard yesterday.
Bredenkamp, one of the richest men in Britain, has been at centre of arms dealing and gun-running with Harare in a move that has seen the international financier misusing or diverting UK-exported equipment.
Top army sources told Zimdaily yesterday that Bredenkamp, founder of the ascot-based sporting agency Masters International, "has been engaged in clandestine military procurement for the air Force for a long time."
"Mr Bredenkamp has been involved in these deals since the Rhodesian regime of Ian Smith was still in power. He has been busting sanctions even for the Smith regime," the source said.
Bredenkamp, who last week was sucked into the Zanu PF power politics amid reports that he had doled out a $7 billion largesse to Zanu PF administration secretary Emmerson Mnangagwa for his vice-presidency campaign, has denied any wrongdoing. Mnangagwa frantically tried to distance himself from the business mogul, stating that there were people in the party who were "more connected" to Bredenkamp, without naming them.
It has since emerged that Mnangagwa, who at one point was the minister responsible for state security was privy to close deals between army chiefs and Bredenkamp over the gun-running business.
Bredenkamp in a statement yesterday said he took "great exception to any allegation of wrongdoing", and described the sanctions-busting allegations as "hopelessly misleading and inaccurate."
Zimdaily was told that Bredenkamp was an active investor in a brokering concern called aviation Consultancy Services, which acts as an agent in africa for major European defence contractors, including BaE Systems. BaE Systems has supplied more than 12 Hawk jets to Zimbabwe before the imposition of an arms embargo in May 2000 in protest at the violent treatment of President Robert Mugabe's opponents. The EU followed suit in February two years ago.
Bredenkamp however claimed his companies observed European Union sanctions on Zimbabwe, but he could not explain how British aerospace spare parts for Hawk jets were supplied early in 2002 in breach of those sanctions.
Documents shown to Zimdaily by top army sources showed that one of Bredenkamp companies, Raceview Enterprises, actually supplies logistics to Zimbabwe's defence forces. a memorandum dated May 17 2003 details aircraft spares worth $3m (?1.9m).
While Bredenkamp's response agreed that aCS acted as a broker for Raceview, which reached a general supply agreement with the air force in august 2001, he stated that the aircraft spares were legitimately exported from European manufacturers and not from BaE Systems or the UK.
Bredenkamp's response included a letter from aCS to the air force in april last year saying that because of the EU embargo two suppliers (whose names have been blanked out) had decided to suspend all shipments to Zimbabwe. The country has aircraft from Italy, Spain and France.
although BaE Systems acknowledge that aCS is "one of our many advisers in africa" it denies supplying Hawk spares in breach of sanctions.
"We want to repeat that we did not supply any spares to Zimbabwe and we do not believe any were delivered, because we believe Zimbabwean Hawks are not flying and have not been for two years," he said.
In reply to allegations that his companies had improperly exploited Congo's natural wealth, together with Mnangagwa, Bredenkamp said the conclusions were "either false or inaccurate, and in context maliciously defamatory. Many of the allegations that have been made over this past week are substantially at odds with the considerable information and documentation voluntarily provided," he said.
The super-rich Bredenkamp's ?720m fortune has placed him as the 33rd richest person in Britain, according to the Sunday Times Rich List. He is registered in the UK as a director of 11 companies.
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