Zimbabwe MPs summon Mugabe over diamond corruption
Former Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe. MPs want him to explain disappearance of $15 billion worth of diamonds. PHOTO | ALEXANDER JOE | AFP
What you need to know:
- MPs want to grill Mugabe over his claim that country had lost $15 billion due to corruption and foreign exploitation.
- Mugabe may not appear before committee because of his ill-health.
HARARE,
A Zimbabwe parliamentary committee has summoned former president Robert Mugabe to give evidence on May 9 over diamond corruption costing billions of dollars, underlining his dramatic fall from power after 37 years of autocratic rule.
Mugabe, now 94, ruled Zimbabwe from 1980 until he was ousted last year when the military took over briefly and his once-loyal ZANU-PF party lawmakers turned against him.
"We have set May 9 as the date on which he will give evidence," Temba Mliswa, the mines and energy parliament committee chairman, told the state-owned Herald newspaper.
"We met Thursday as a committee and resolved that we invite the former president Mr Mugabe to our committee to explain the disappearance of $15 billion worth of diamonds," said Mliswa, an independent MP.
The lawmakers plan to question Mugabe over his 2016 claim that the country had lost the $15 billion due to corruption and foreign exploitation in the diamond sector.
It was unclear whether Mugabe, who is in frail health, was likely to agree to appear before the committee or to make moves to avoid a potential grilling.
