Canadian received millions to broker Zimbabwe land deals
Globe and Mail, Canada

COLIN FREEZE

From Wednesday's Globe and Mail

July 2, 2008 at 1:16 AM EDT

A controversial Canada-based consultant, whose previous claim to fame was
framing Zimbabwe's opposition leader in a coup plot, has received more than
$14-million (U.S.) from a white South African to broker deals for Zimbabwean
farmland, according to U.S. government documents seen by The Globe and Mail.

Asked about the deal, Ari Ben Menashe said that in today's Zimbabwe "there
are all kinds of possibilities; it isn't all doom and gloom." He added, "Now
the government is willing to lease all kinds of land to all kinds of
people."

Pressed about what he has done to earn his millions, he replied, "This is
not money that is going into our pockets," and then added, "I don't want to
get into details."

The Montrealer, who once described himself as an international man of
infamy, was a paid "public-relations" consultant for President Robert
Mugabe's regime from 2002 to 2004. At the time, he was trying to shore up
the image of a pariah government that was seizing farmland from whites.

Although he might have not made the ruling ZANU-PF party look good in this
period, Mr. Ben Menashe certainly helped make the opposition look bad.
Before going to work for Mr. Mugabe, he had been dealing with Zimbabwe's
opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai. He invited Mr. Tsvangirai to his
Montreal offices to discuss the impending 2002 election.

In Canada, Mr. Ben Menashe put to his guest several leading questions about
"eliminating" Mr. Mugabe. Thanks to a pinhole camera Mr. Ben Menashe had
installed in the ceiling, the whole conversation was taped.

Because the videotape was sent back to Zimbabwe as proof of a coup plot, Mr.
Tsvangirai wound up jailed on treason charges in the midst of the 2002
presidential election campaign. He was eventually acquitted and lived to
fight in this year's election, though he stood down last month complaining
that state-sponsored election violence had resulted in the deaths of more
than 80 of his supporters.

During the 2002 controversy, Mr. Ben Menashe circulated a press release
saying that he sent the videotape to Harare because he felt "morally
compelled to assist the embattled people of Zimbabwe and their President
Robert Mugabe."

However, records show that shortly afterward, his consultancy, Dickens &
Madson, signed a $400,000 contract to do PR work for Mr. Mugabe.

Those details are all a matter of public record. Under the terms of the U.S.
Justice Department's Foreign Agents Registration Act, or FARA, freelancers
such as Mr. Ben Menashe must inform Washington of any attempts to lobby the
United States on behalf of any foreign entities.

Newer FARA filings obtained by The Globe indicate Mr. Ben Menashe is no
longer directly employed by the Mugabe regime. Rather, the focus of his
enterprises these days is Paul Calder LeRoux, a 35-year-old South
African-Australian dual citizen, who lives in the Philippines and who made
his fortune building call centres.

Mr. LeRoux is not commenting on the deal, but the text of it, as filed by
Mr. Ben Menashe, reads that the Montrealer is to "promote policies of the
United States favourable to the business activities of the principal," Mr.
LeRoux, who "intends to become involved in the leasing of real estate for
farming and other purposes in Zimbabwe."

To that end, the FARA filings indicate that Mr. LeRoux made a series of
large payments to the Montreal consultancy beginning on March 16, 2007, and
ending on Jan. 30.

The amount totals almost $14-million, and it's unclear from the documents
whether any land has been leased and why so much money was being paid so
quickly. It is also unclear precisely who is pocketing the millions if Mr.
Ben Menashe, who said he still visits Zimbabwe, is not.