Harare - Zimbabwean Tourism Minister
Prisca Mupfumira was charged in court on Friday with corruption
involving $95 million from the state pension fund after
questioning by the newly formed Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption
Commission (ZACC).
Mupfumira is the first senior government official to be
interrogated by the commission, which was appointed by President
Emmerson Mnangagwa last week after he promised tough action
against graft.
The prosecution laid out charges ranging from alleged abuse
of state pension fund money to finance Mupfumira's political
campaigning to directing investments of up to $62 million into a
bank against the advice of the pension fund's risk committee.
Mupfumira is also accused of leaning on the pension fund to
enter into property deals with the same bank worth $15.7
million.
The charges arose from Mupfumira’s tenure as labour minister
between 2014 and 2018, when she oversaw the state pension fund.
"While some amounts have been identified, where they went
to, there are other amounts which the police and officers at the
Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission have failed to find. She has
managed to hide that money very well," prosecutor Michael Reza
said in court.
Transparency International says Zimbabwe loses $1 billion to
corruption every year.
Zimbabwe's state pension fund, which has assets exceeding $1
billion, has often been targeted for looting by politicians and
public officials, none of whom have been prosecuted until now.
The auditor general completed a forensic audit into the
state pension fund in March. Opposition parliamentarians, who
believe the report details extensive fraud, have been pushing
for it to be released, but Labour Minister Sekai Nzenza says she
is under no obligation to do so.
The new anti-graft body has, however, said the audit report
forms the basis of one of 200 corruption cases it is currently
pursuing.
Mupfumira will remain in custody, until a magistrate rules
on Saturday on the prosecutors’ request to keep her in custody
for 21 days while further investigations are carried out.
Elton Mangoma, an opposition official who was energy
minister in 2011 under a power-sharing government, was the last
sitting minister to be arrested, on graft charges relating to a
fuel supply contract. He was later acquitted.