US probes Mugabe pay-off

United States authorities are investigating whether Och-Ziff Capital Management Group knew that part of a $150 million investment in a small African miner would wind up in the hands of President Robert Mugabe's government.

Och-Ziff last year disclosed that a broad Justice Department and Securities and Exchange Commission investigation was examining the $47 billion New York hedge fund's business in Africa under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

The Act bars firms doing business in the US from giving money or items of value to foreign officials for business, either directly or through intermediaries.

The publicly traded hedge fund firm is in talks to settle the probe into its ties to a network of investors and deal-makers that it worked with on business from Libya to South Africa.