'Mugabe planes': Shocking details

As the spotlight remains firmly focused on the country's controversial new airline, Zimbabwe Airways - which has been linked to the family president Robert Mugabe - disturbing allegations are emerging that the purchase price of its aeroplanes bought from Malaysia Airlines was allegedly inflated by more than $100 million, from $70 million to a staggering $180 million.

In a dramatic development which further shines the spotlight on Zimbabwe Airways - an opaque new airline which was suspected to have close links with former president Robert Mugabe's family - the government said yesterday that it owned the controversial airline which has acquired  four wide-bodied planes from Malaysia.

The surprising claim contradicts Transport minister Joram Gumbo who has consistently said that the little-known corporate outfit, the Zimbabwe Aviation Leasing Company (ZALC), owned Zimbabwe Airways.

Speaking at a function at Robert Mugabe International Airport yesterday to receive the first Zim Airways plane - a Boeing B777 - Finance minister Patrick Chinamasa stunned journalists when he said ZALC was a government company which it had used to acquire the planes from Malaysia, allegedly as a strategy to overcome sanctions.