Van Hoogstraten to take over top bank and colliery in Zimbabwe

[emad]

Van Hoogstraten to take over top bank and colliery in Zimbabwe
By Basildon Peta in Johannesburg
Published: 14 July 2005

The British property magnate Nicholas van Hoogstraten is on the verge of taking control of Zimbabwe's largest coalmine as well as one of the country's biggest commercial banks.

Thousands of white businessmen have had their properties confiscated over their suspected support for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change. But thanks to Mr van Hoogstraten's close links to the Mugabe regime, the government is not resisting his plans.

Mr van Hoogstraten has quietly increased his equity in NMB Bank to about 20 per cent. He has also become the second largest shareholder in Wankie Colliery, the largest coal operation in Africa outside South Africa.

The British tycoon, who once branded nearly 5,000 white farmers evicted by Mr Mugabe from their properties "white trash", is now the single largest shareholder in NMB bank, according to the bank's shareholder register released at its recent annual meeting.

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/africa/article299066.ece

MAYBE he'll also give Poodle some ££££££££££££££s as a donation...

[muriel_volestrangler]

1. Mugabe needs van Hoogstraten

because van Hoogstraten makes Mugabe look like a model of honesty and fair business practice.

His Central Estates, a vast expanse of land wedged between Mvuma and Lalapanzi in Zimbabwe's Midlands Province, was not seized by the government for resettlement when virtually all of the other white neighbouring estates were confiscated.

Senior government officials had eyed the property and tried to seize it, after Mr van Hoogstraten was jailed in England. But they failed to gain control of it after the House of Lords upheld his appeal against a conviction for the manslaughter of a business rival. He was released after spending a year in jail.

Mr van Hoogstraten immediately visited Zimbabwe to protect his estates. He boasted that Mr Mugabe had been the first to call to congratulate him for his acquittal.