Roger Boka

Tobacco magnate

Roger Boka, who died in 1999, owned one of Africa’s biggest tobacco trading floors. Boka was “the first black Zimbabwean to own a private plane and drive a Rolls Royce” and one of the first black Zimbabweans to own a bank. At the time of his death, “Boka was wanted for questioning over the alleged illegal transfer abroad of $25 million from his collapsed United Merchant Bank,” according to the Associated Press, which also described him as “a leading African black empowerment advocate.”

File details

Boka was an HSBC client and was linked to a client account under his name. HSBC files list him as president of Boka Group that dealt with financial services, gold mining and tobacco export. The leaked files do not specify the exact role that he had in relation to the account.

Comment

Boka passed away in 1999.