The boardroom fight between Zimbabwe's Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono and his deputy, Charles Kuwaza, has intensified, amid revelations that the central bank chief has uncovered a plot by his bitter rival to oust him from his position.

Details of a government document, titled Operation Kuwaza and seen by the Sunday Times, show that the Reserve Bank and state security services have been monitoring Kuwaza for several months and have now concluded he wants to get rid of Gono.

Apparently Kuwaza was being recorded and monitored by state security agents. It appears that all his telephone lines were bugged.

The document details incidents which Gono and his allies believe show that Kuwaza, who is also the central bank's deputy board chairman and chairs its audit and oversight committee, was working with unnamed senior ministers to remove Gono.

This comes as Gono is apparently preparing to confront Kuwaza about his presence on the bank's board when he sits on the boards of other state entities.

Kuwaza is also chairman of the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority and the State Procurement board. According to the document, and in terms of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Act, Kuwaza is not supposed to be deputy board chairman of the central bank as long as he remains on the boards of other statutory bodies.

The Procurement Act states: "A person who is a member of two or more other statutory bodies shall not be appointed a member of the State Procurement Board, nor shall he be qualified to hold office as a member."

Internal memos have been flying back and forth between Gono, Kuwaza and Finance Minister Tendai Biti. According to the documents seen by the Sunday Times, Biti is supporting Kuwaza. On Friday, efforts to verify this with Biti failed.

The documents say Gono is trying to use information gleaned from Operation Kuwaza to take the matter up with Biti and President Robert Mugabe.

Biti has in the past accused Gono of ruining the economy by printing money, which fuelled hyperinflation to above 500 billion percent in December 2008.

The two had been fighting a war of attrition until a few months ago when Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai intervened. However, their war has resumed as both are now sucked into the Kuwaza battle.

In a letter dated August 27, Gono urges Biti to intervene to stop the "destabilisation of the bank, witch-hunting, overbearing behaviour, denigration of the country's leadership and leaking of official documents to the media" by Kuwaza.

The Operation Kuwaza document says on July 9, Kuwaza alleged he had evidence to show Gono had "misappropriated seigniorage or printed money" between 2004 and 2008.

But in a letter to the Sunday Times dated September 20, Kuwaza denies that he had ever accused anybody of "looting as I have no such evidence".

The Operation Kuwaza document says Kuwaza accused senior Reserve Bank officials of corruption, and claims that on July 16 he raised concerns about Gono's efforts to use security service chiefs to "muzzle" him.

The document also says Kuwaza was trying to use his position as chairman of the State Procurement Board to investigate the acquisition and distribution of luxury cars bought by Gono for the Reserve Bank. "He says some of the cars were given to Gono's mistresses and cronies," the document reveals.

Kuwaza has said he would not comment on memos and documents involving Gono and himself, as they were "confidential and protected by the Official Secrets Act".

In his August 27 letter to Biti, Gono accused Kuwaza of leaking information to the media.

By The Times (SA)