(HERALD) Anti-Corruption Commission sucked into Prime Minister’s house saga

Anti-Corruption Commission sucked into Prime Minister’s house saga
Saturday, 28 April 2012 21:34
Sunday Mail Reporter

Former Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe top official Dr Munyaradzi Kereke has accused Commissioner Emmanuel Chimwanda of the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission of “brazenly intimidating members of the public” and trying to exonerate Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai in the ongoing investigations to establish whether the Prime Minister abused about US$1,5 million allocated to him by the central bank to purchase a house.

Dr Kereke said the moves by Commissioner Chimwanda had left him with “very elevated anxiety and apprehension” and further questioned whether the moves by the commissioner were not tantamount to abuse of office. Reports say Commissioner Chimwanda once worked in the Prime Minister’s office and was in charge of the security division until he was pushed out following a restructuring exercise that was carried out in July 2010.

In a letter dated April 5 2012, addressed to the chairperson of the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission, Mr Denford Chirindo, confirming that he authored the February 28 2012 letter with allegations against his former employers, Dr Kereke expressed reservations at the way Commissioner Chimwanda conducted himself during a visit to his Rockfoundation Medical Centre.

Said Dr Kereke: “Mr Chairman, I also want it duly recorded that I took great exception to the fact that Commissioner Chimwanda from your office came to me again at RMC, on the day you sent him with your 5th of April 2012 letter just before the Easter Holidays, brandishing in his hands a diary written ‘Prime Minister’s Office’ and he uttered veiled threats to me, saying that ‘you people want the Prime Minister arrested for what?’, which remarks took me by surprise as I neither possess arresting powers nor hold any public office.



“I felt Commissioner Chimwanda was seeking to intimidate me for reasons unknown to me.
“I then told him I did not know what he was talking about before he later drove off from my hospital premises in his Prado 4x4 vehicle.
“These remarks by your senior official left me with very elevated anxiety and apprehension that perhaps Commissioner Chimwanda’s repeated visits to me have much more to them, and this is causing me to now live in fear.” Dr Kereke added that the PM’s housing issue, according to media reports, was still under investigations.
“What have I got to do with the investigations on the Prime Minister? Why is Commissioner Chimwanda venting to me these veiled threats?
“To my knowledge, media reports indicate that investigations on the Prime Minister’s housing issue (the PM being a very public figure who must be fully accountable to the people of Zimbabwe) are still on-going.
“Why would Commissioner Chimwanda move around brazenly intimidating members of the public and exonerating the Prime Minister on matters that are still in the mill of due process and on matters which probably he himself has no knowledge of in terms of what transpired?

“Does the conduct of Commissioner Chimwanda not constitute abuse of office and defeating the course of due process of the law?” questioned Dr Kereke.
He copied his letter to the President, the Commissioner General of the Police, the Attorney-General and the Parliament of Zimbabwe.
In response to Dr Kereke’s letter, Mr Chirindo on April 13 2012 wrote a letter suggesting that a meeting be arranged to establish the true facts of the matter.
“Regarding the allegations of threats towards you by Commissioner Chimwanda, and his possession of a diary that raised your concerns, it may be necessary to arrange a meeting between yourself, Commissioner Chimwanda and ourselves to establish the facts of the matter, as it is now your word against his . . .

“Further, we deny that we pursue any political or other agenda, other than that of curbing corruption,” wrote Mr Chirindo.
There have been widespread concerns in recent months that the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission had been politicised by the MDC-T and was now acting as its instrument to deal with those people perceived to be against the Western-sponsored party. A few weeks ago, the commission voted unanimously for the arrest of the Attorney-General, Mr Johannes Tomana, but since then, no move has been made to arrest the AG. It is understood that everyone associated with the decision to arrest the AG has been doing everything to disassociate themselves from the decision which turned out to have been made on false and distorted information.