内容摘要：South Africa’s government plans to offer a workaround of local Black ownership laws to allow Starlink to operate in the country, according to the news agency Bloomberg, which cited three people familiar with the discussions.

South Africa’s government plans to offer a workaround of local Black ownership laws to allow Starlink to operate in the country, according to the news agency Bloomberg, which cited three people familiar with the discussions.

When asked for a formal comment about the findings of Al Jazeera’s investigation, Mathias denied that he designed mechanisms to launder money and said that he had not laundered money or traded illegal gold for Russian clients or anyone else. He told us he had never had any working relationship with Macmillan.Next week, Al Jazeera will introduce more key characters involved in the gold mafia.

Al Jazeera infiltrates large gold-smuggling rings and reveals a giant money laundering scheme.An investigation by Al Jazeera has revealed some of Southern Africa’s largest gold-smuggling operations, exposing how these gangs help criminals around the world launder billions of dollars while aiding governments in circumventing international sanctions.Gold Mafia, a four-part series by Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit (

) based on dozens of undercover operations spanning three continents, and thousands of documents, also shows how government officials and businesspeople are profiting off the illegal movement of gold across borders.The investigation reveals how billions of dollars’ worth of gold is smuggled every month from Zimbabwe to Dubai, allowing criminals to whitewash dirty money through a web of shell companies, fake invoices and paid-off officials.

The investigation also shows how Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government is systematically using gold smugglers to get around the chokehold of Western sanctions imposed on the country. The money laundering and gold-smuggling schemes involve one of Zimbabwe’s most influential diplomats, and go all the way up to the president and his circle.

The smugglers include millionaires, one of whom was accused of almost bankrupting Kenya through a similar, corrupt scheme also involving gold.Luxury goods are defined broadly, including cars with a market value of more than 50,000 euros, home appliance hairdryers, washing machines and refrigerators worth more than $750, and smartphones worth more than $300, among other items.

While violating sanctions is a criminal offence in many countries, enforcement is generally country-specific. Any company registered in a jurisdiction that did not impose sanctions, such as the UAE or China, is not legally bound to comply with another country's restrictions.The US, owing to its outsize influence over the global economy, offers an exception with its practice of imposing secondary sanctions.

Under Washington’s sanctions regime, companies registered anywhere in the world are at risk of being blacklisted if they are deemed to be helping Russia evade sanctions.Some human rights advocates argue that manufacturers are responsible for the sale of their products, whether sold with their approval or not, under the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.