News / National
Zanu-PF wants Tsvangirai, Biti's arrested
02 Apr 2013 at 08:57hrs | Views
ZANU-PF hardliners have reportedly launched a fresh onslaught against Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Finance minister Tendai Biti and wants them arrested for corruption following a failed bid by the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc) to nab three Zanu-PF ministers over similar allegations.
The hardliners - most of them linked to the ministers who escaped the anti-graft body's net last month - are reported to be pushing for the MDC-T leader's arrest over an alleged 2009 "double-dipping" scandal involving public funds meant to buy his official residence in Highlands, Harare.
Tsvangirai has since denied the charge.
The MDC-T leader is alleged to have made two separate claims of $1,5 million apiece for the same house, while Biti is being accused of clandestinely transferring $20 million from the International Monetary Fund's Special Drawing Rights into the troubled Interfin
Bank's coffers before the money mysteriously vanished.
In 2011, the Joint Operations Command (JOC) - which brings together the army, police and intelligence chiefs - reportedly demanded for such an arrest, but the move was thwarted by another section in the party who feared such an arrest would have grave consequences on Zanu-PF's election bid.
A few weeks ago, Zacc hovered over three Zanu-PF ministers Saviour Kasukuwere (Indigenisation), Obert Mpofu (Mines and Mining Development) and Nicholas Goche (Transport and and Infrastructural Development), accusing them of corruption, but the trio wriggled off the hook after obtaining a High Court order stopping searches at their offices.
Zanu-PF sources told NewsDay yesterday, party hardliners now want the heat to be turned on Tsvangirai and Biti.
The party functionaries are alleged to be pushing Zacc to pursue the matter with the same zeal they had shown on Kasukuwere, Goche and Mpofu.
However, Zacc chairperson Denford Chirindo yesterday denied his commission was under pressure from Zanu-PF to lay corruption charges against Tsvangirai and Biti.
"We are a law enforcement agency, not a scores-settling agency," Chirindo said.
"The commission does not operate under pressure from anyone. The law does not allow us to get pressure from anyone. I am not aware of any such pressure or discussions. These could be mere political discussions and no one in the commission has been approached with that instruction."
Police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Charity Charamba said they only acted when there was strong suspicion that a crime had been committed.
"This is nonsense. Police do not get pressure from anyone. Police only act when there is suspicion of an offence," Charamba said.
However, NewsDay has it on good authority that the hardliners are burning the midnight candle to mobilise for the arrest of the MDC-T leader and his party secretary-general over graft charges.
According to insiders, the plot is also expected to rope in Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono as the State's star witness in a horse-trading deal that will see the latter's charge of discrediting Zanu-PF's indigenisation policy dropped.
A few weeks ago, Gono was at the receiving end of Zanu-PF's vitriol attacks with Kasukuwere and former Information minister Jonathan Moyo accusing him of leaking sensitive and misleading information to the media to discredit Zanu-PF's indigenisation policy.
"The grand plan is for Gono to agree to be a State witness against Tsvangirai and Biti and then the attack on his person will immediately cease," a source said.
In one of his many opinion pieces published in the State media two weeks ago, Moyo also lashed out at Zacc officials, accusing them of clandestinely receiving funding from Gono to blackmail Zanu-PF ministers and the party ahead of the forthcoming polls.
High Court judge Justice Charles Hungwe, who authorised the search for documents at the three Zanu-PF ministers' offices, was not spared the attack.
In that same article, Moyo challenged Zacc to arrest Tsvangirai and Biti, accusing the commission of ulterior motives to destroy Zanu-PF ahead of elections.
The hardliners - most of them linked to the ministers who escaped the anti-graft body's net last month - are reported to be pushing for the MDC-T leader's arrest over an alleged 2009 "double-dipping" scandal involving public funds meant to buy his official residence in Highlands, Harare.
Tsvangirai has since denied the charge.
The MDC-T leader is alleged to have made two separate claims of $1,5 million apiece for the same house, while Biti is being accused of clandestinely transferring $20 million from the International Monetary Fund's Special Drawing Rights into the troubled Interfin
Bank's coffers before the money mysteriously vanished.
In 2011, the Joint Operations Command (JOC) - which brings together the army, police and intelligence chiefs - reportedly demanded for such an arrest, but the move was thwarted by another section in the party who feared such an arrest would have grave consequences on Zanu-PF's election bid.
A few weeks ago, Zacc hovered over three Zanu-PF ministers Saviour Kasukuwere (Indigenisation), Obert Mpofu (Mines and Mining Development) and Nicholas Goche (Transport and and Infrastructural Development), accusing them of corruption, but the trio wriggled off the hook after obtaining a High Court order stopping searches at their offices.
Zanu-PF sources told NewsDay yesterday, party hardliners now want the heat to be turned on Tsvangirai and Biti.
The party functionaries are alleged to be pushing Zacc to pursue the matter with the same zeal they had shown on Kasukuwere, Goche and Mpofu.
However, Zacc chairperson Denford Chirindo yesterday denied his commission was under pressure from Zanu-PF to lay corruption charges against Tsvangirai and Biti.
"We are a law enforcement agency, not a scores-settling agency," Chirindo said.
"The commission does not operate under pressure from anyone. The law does not allow us to get pressure from anyone. I am not aware of any such pressure or discussions. These could be mere political discussions and no one in the commission has been approached with that instruction."
Police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Charity Charamba said they only acted when there was strong suspicion that a crime had been committed.
"This is nonsense. Police do not get pressure from anyone. Police only act when there is suspicion of an offence," Charamba said.
However, NewsDay has it on good authority that the hardliners are burning the midnight candle to mobilise for the arrest of the MDC-T leader and his party secretary-general over graft charges.
According to insiders, the plot is also expected to rope in Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono as the State's star witness in a horse-trading deal that will see the latter's charge of discrediting Zanu-PF's indigenisation policy dropped.
A few weeks ago, Gono was at the receiving end of Zanu-PF's vitriol attacks with Kasukuwere and former Information minister Jonathan Moyo accusing him of leaking sensitive and misleading information to the media to discredit Zanu-PF's indigenisation policy.
"The grand plan is for Gono to agree to be a State witness against Tsvangirai and Biti and then the attack on his person will immediately cease," a source said.
In one of his many opinion pieces published in the State media two weeks ago, Moyo also lashed out at Zacc officials, accusing them of clandestinely receiving funding from Gono to blackmail Zanu-PF ministers and the party ahead of the forthcoming polls.
High Court judge Justice Charles Hungwe, who authorised the search for documents at the three Zanu-PF ministers' offices, was not spared the attack.
In that same article, Moyo challenged Zacc to arrest Tsvangirai and Biti, accusing the commission of ulterior motives to destroy Zanu-PF ahead of elections.
Source - newsday
