Medicinal cannabis triangle revealed

Two senior Lesotho Health Ministry officials, who oversee cannabis industry licensing, are linked to a company that plans to manufacture medicinal cannabis in the kingdom. London-listed Afriag Global PLC announced in an interim results statement last year that it had appointed the ministry's director of pharmaceuticals, Germina Mphoso, and its legal officer, Masello Sello, to a technical committee ‘responsible for reviewing potential investments within the medicinal cannabis sector and reporting to the company's board on a regular basis’. An amaBhungane investigation reveals that Afriag Global (Pty) Ltd, a Lesotho company associated with the London-listed Afriag, has been licensed to produce medicinal cannabis. Lesotho's Health Minister Nkaku Kabi and Principal Secretary for Health Lefu Manyokolo told the MNN Centre for Investigative Journalism they were unaware of the appointments. One of the shareholders in both the London and Lesotho versions of Afriag is controversial businessman Paul de Robillard who was allegedly implicated in a 2010 tax probe in SA as a member of a tobacco smuggling ring. Also linked to the Lesotho venture is Durban-based businessman Yusuf Kajee, De Robillard's business partner and a former business associate of Jacob Zuma's eldest son, Edward Zuma.

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