'Probe Mugabe for money laundering'

President Robert Mugabe must be investigated for failing to take action over a list of possible tax cheats while in office, and accusations of stashing cash in foreign countries, a Japanese researcher has said.

Ken Yamamoto, a research fellow on Africa at a Tokyo institute who travels frequently to Zimbabwe, Uganda and Rwanda, said the 92 year old president was ignoring festering diamonds corruption scandals and a worsening economic recession.

In his latest article on Zimbabwe, Yamamoto said Mugabe's statement that the country lost billions in diamond revenue from the Chiadzwa mine fields was the mother of all scandals.