Nicholas Van Hoogstraten - Links With Zimbabwe

Links With Zimbabwe

He first bought an estate in Zimbabwe (then Rhodesia) when he was 19. At around the same time he became friends with Tiny Rowland, who was then in charge of the London and Rhodesian Mining Company.

He has been a close associate of Robert Mugabe (whom he describes as "100 per cent decent and incorruptible"), and in 2005 announced plans to take over NMB, a major Zimbabwe bank, though he sold his stake in the bank for over £1 million in late 2007. In 2009, it was reported he had been "a generous contributor to Mr Mugabe’s Zanu (PF) party and bought into several large state-owned companies."

In January 2006 he said in an interview with The Sunday Times that, as a result of loaning £10 million to Mugabe, "In six months’ time, when the interest is due, it would be cheaper for them to just kill me".

On 26 January 2008, he was arrested in Harare for allegedly charging rentals in US dollars rather than Zimbabwean dollars — illegal under Zimbabwean law. He was also charged with violating the Censorship Act by possessing pornography, and was held in custody for five nights but released on bail. On 3 July 2009, it was reported that a Zimbabwe court had dismissed the charges of illegal currency dealing and possession of pornography: the police were unable to produce the officer who had allegedly caught him on the currency charge and they had seized the allegedly pornographic photos without a warrant.

Mr van Hoogstraten has told an Observer reporter that he pays for the education of three children in every school in Zimbabwe: "Actually, it doesn't cost a lot of money in real terms, but I've set up things like that that will continue."