Six senior officials from Canadile Miners and the Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC) have been arrested on suspicion that they used fraud in obtaining government permission to mine diamonds.

According to allegations, the six formed Canadile Miners and attempted to deceive the Zimbabwean government regarding the company's means and ability to mine the diamonds.

Sources quoted by 'The Zimbabwe Guardian' said that the officials, who included ZMDC's chief executive and company secretary, told the government that a South African natural resources company, BSGR, would invest some $2 billion in Zimbabwe. They then traveled to South Africa, supposedly in order to stake out whether BSGR had the resources to make such an investment. "They knew that the company did not exist, but travelled to make it look like everything was above board," the sources alleged. "When they came back they gave the Mines Ministry a report in which they claimed BSGR was fully operational and a suitable investor in the sector."