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Zimbabwe Minister Remanded in Custody Over $94 Million Graft

Zimbabwe Minister Remanded in Custody Over $94 Million Graft

(Bloomberg) -- Prisca Mupfumira, Zimbabwe’s tourism and environment minister, was remanded in custody after facing seven charges of corruption Friday in the first such case since President Emmerson Mnangagwa pledged to clamp down on graft.

The Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission, which arrested Mupfumira Thursday, alleges she misused about $94 million from the state’s National Social Security Authority while minister of public service, labor and social welfare.

The charge sheet accuses Mupfumira of “criminal abuse of duty as a public officer” for allegedly taking unauthorized loans from the NSSA to buy a vehicle and fund her political campaign. She also instructed the social security agency to provide funds to Zimbabwe’s Metbank “under unclear circumstances,” it said.

Magistrate Munamato Mutevedzi ordered Mupfumira be remanded in custody until the hearing resumes on Saturday.

--With assistance from Brian Latham.

To contact the reporter on this story: Godfrey Marawanyika in Harare at gmarawanyika@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Karl Maier at kmaier2@bloomberg.net, Hilton Shone, Vernon Wessels

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