Two sons of a former ruling party MP have been arrested on charges of siphoning about $1-million out of Zimbabwe as police in the country start targeting people linked to President Robert Mugabe’s powerful Zanu-PF, reports said on Friday.
Police have also placed the head of the parliamentary finance committee on their wanted list for allegedly violating strict exchange controls. They said David Butau, also of the Zanu-PF, is deliberately evading the police, according to the government mouthpiece Herald daily.
The police announced they were looking for Butau on Monday, days after he told official media that his committee was in no hurry to respond to an offer from the central bank governor to name corrupt officials allegedly involved in cash hoarding and other shady deals.
”It is now apparent that Comrade Butau is wilfully evading the police,” said police spokesperson Wayne Bvudzijena.
”Comrade Butau is now on the police wanted list and it is in his own interest to report to the police immediately. He is wanted in connection with violations of the exchange-control regulations,” said the spokesperson.
He said Butau had been sending text messages to investigating officers but had still not given himself up.
Meanwhile, police have arrested two sons of Christopher Chigumba, former Zanu-PF MP for Zengeza constituency in Harare.
The two are believed to have been renting a fuel station in Harare’s sprawling dormitory town of Chitungwiza, where they were selling the scarce commodity for foreign currency in violation of strict legislation.
The pair were arrested on Wednesday and are assisting police with investigations into an offshore account with transactions involving about $1-million, according to the Herald. The Zimbabwe authorities forbid individuals from holding foreign currency accounts in banks abroad, unless they can prove the money was earned when the account holder was living and working outside the country.
Zimbabwe has been desperately short of foreign currency for several years now, and the authorities do not have the funds to pay for critical drugs, fuel and other vital imports. Mugabe and his government routinely blame the shortages on Western sanctions. — Sapa-dpa