ISSUES ULTIMATUM FOR EXTERNALISED FUNDS
HARARE - Zimbabwe's new president on Tuesday gave a three-month ultimatum for the return of funds siphoned out of the country by individuals and corporations, as he moves to stem graft and revive the moribund economy.
"The government of Zimbabwe is gazetting a three-month moratorium within which those involved in the malpractice can bring back the funds and assets, with no questions being asked or charges preferred against them," Emmerson Mnangagwa said in a statement.
The amnesty period from December 1.
"Upon expiry of the three- month window, the government will proceed to effect arrest of all those who would not have complied with this directive and will ensure that they are prosecuted in terms of the country's laws," he said.
Mnangagwa, who took over from long ruling Robert Mugabe last week after a military intervention, said the operation had discovered that huge funds were illegally externalised.
The military operation which saw tanks rolling down the street and culminated in Mugabe's resignation, helped unearth "cases where huge sums of money and other assets were illegally ex will run ternalised by certain individuals and corporates," he said.
"Such malpractices constitute a very serious economic crime against the people of Zimbabwe which the government of Zimbabwe will never condone."
Zimbabwe is facing a perennial liquidity crunch which has worsened in recent months leaving banks with little or no cash.
Mnangagwa, 75, was sworn- in last Friday vowing to fight corruption, protect foreign investment and create jobs to help re-build the troubled economy.
Meanwhile, a Zimbabwean court found activist pastor Evan Mawarire not guilty of subversion yesterday in a case that has been scrutinised as a barometer of independence of the courts under new President Mnangagwa.
Mawarire has been a strident critic of former President Robert Mugabe, who was forced to resign after 37 years in power last week under pressure from the army and ruling ZANU-PF party. “This could be evidence of a freer Zimbabwe but this case had no legs to stand on. I think a lot more needs to be seen to determine whether this is a free judiciary going forward,” Mawarire told reporters in the court room soon after Judge Priscilla Chigumba’s judgment.
Critics allege that Zimbabwe’s courts for decades have been used as a tool of political repression.
The pastor’s #ThisFlag movement had been a thorn in the side of the former Mugabe government. In 2016, he led a stay-at- home demonstration that led to the first of his several arrests.
In other reports, the ruling Za nu-PF will donate party regalia and posters with the image of former president Robert Mugabe and his wife Grace to orphanages, a report says.
According to Daily News, Zanu-PF had ordered at least 12 000 paraphernalia that raged from T-shirts, mugs and hats for over 12 000 delegates that were set to attend Zanu-PF extra-ordinary conference in December.
The regalia and posters were worth thousands of dollars, the report said. – AFP.