Would-be minister blacklisted by US Treasury Department
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Nalinee Joy Taveesin, who is tipped to be Prime Minister's Office Minister, has been designated as one of the Mugabe Regime's cronies, according to a release by the US Treasury Department in 2008.
According to the release, the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated four Mugabe regime cronies and a number of entities owned or controlled by two of them.
The financial and logistical support they have provided to the regime has enabled Robert Mugabe to pursue policies that seriously undermine democratic processes and institutions in Zimbabwe.
One of them is Nalinee. The release issued in November 25, 2008, said, “OFAC is designating Nalinee Joy Taveesin, a Thai businesswoman who has facilitated a number of financial, realestate, and gemrelated transactions on behalf of Grace Mugabe, Gideon Gono, and a number of other Zimbabwean Specially Designated Nationals (SDNs).”
“Ironically, Nalinee Taveesin has participated in a number of initiatives on corruption and growth challenges in Africa and Southeast Asia while secretly supporting the kleptocratic practices of one of Africa's most corrupt regimes,” the release said.
Nalinee has been named Thai Trade Representative by Yingluck government late last year. She is not available for comment.
The other designations, according to the release in 2008, include John Bredenkamp, a wellknown Mugabe insider involved in various business activities, Muller Conrad Rautenbach (a.k.a. Billy Rautenbach), a Zimbabwean businessman who has maintained close relations with the Mugabe regime, Nalinee Joy Taveesin, and Mahmood Awang Kechik, a Malaysian urologist and one of Robert Mugabe's physicians and business advisors.
The US Treasury said in its release that today's action was taken pursuant to Executive Order 13469, which targets, among others, individuals and entities who provide financial and other support to the Government of Zimbabwe and Zimbabwean SDNs. As a result of Treasury's action, any assets of the individuals and entities designated today that are within U.S. jurisdiction must be frozen. Additionally, U.S. persons are prohibited from conducting financial or commercial transactions with these individuals or entities.
