Zimbabwe vice president’s wife due in court over fraud

Marry Mubaiwa, the estranged wife of Zimbabwe’s Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga, will on Monday appear in court to face charges of money laundering and fraud.

The fraud charges arise from an alleged attempt to forge a marriage certificate without her husband’s consent while he was sick.

The couple was customarily married after Mr Chiwenga paid a bride price to her parents in 2011.

Ms Marry is being held at Rhodesville police station in the capital, Harare, after being arrested on Saturday.

She has not commented on the charges.

She will face six counts of exporting foreign currency in breach of the Exchange Control Act and five counts of concealing transactions involving proceeds of crime in violation of the Money Laundering and Proceeds of Crime Act, according to the Herald newspaper.

She is accused of exporting foreign currency to South Africa in the pretext of buying tents and instead bought a house and a luxury vehicle.

Her husband Mr Chiwenga over the weekend announced a crackdown on corrupt leaders.

In his address to delegates at the Zanu-PF conference, he was quoted by the Times newspaper as saying; “We will arrest corrupt people. We don’t care who you are even if you know me personally we don’t care.”

BBC