Former Zimbabwean vice president Phelekezela Mphoko is on the run after failing to report to the country’s anti-graft police to answer charges that he allegedly abused his office during his time as one of ex-president Robert Mugabe’s deputies two years ago.
According to the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC), Mphoko did not report to a police station in the second city Bulawayo despite earlier promising to present himself to answer corruption allegations.
“As for us he is now a fugitive of justice. Our officers are, however, still on the ground looking for him,” ZACC spokesperson John Makamure told journalists.
One of the allegations against the former vice president is that in 2016 he ordered officers at Avondale Police Station in Harare to release from cells former acting Zimbabwe National Road Administration chief executive Moses Juma who was facing corruption charges.
The corruption allegations against Mphoko are part of President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s crusade to rid Zimbabwe of high-level graft.
Former tourism minister Prisca Mupfumira is currently in police cells awaiting trial for allegedly defrauding the country’s social security fund of more than US$90 million when she was labour minister.
JN/APA