HARARE – Attorney General Kumbirai Hodzi has been asked to charge Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube with criminal abuse of power over a series of acts that caused billions of dollars in financial losses to Zimbabweans.
If he refused to sue the minister, activist Mfundo Mlilo – who won a legal challenge in September against Ncube’s illegal imposition of a 2% tax on electronic transactions – said he would charge the prominent lawyer Thabani Mpofu to initiate private legal action.
Ncube wrongfully stole US$800 million from the public with an illegal tax and inflicted huge financial losses on Zimbabweans by misrepresenting that more than US$9 billion in RTGS assets would be converted into US dollars, Mlilo says in a statement of criminal complaint sent through his lawyers to Hodzi, Mafume Law Chambers.
The minister also broke the law when he tried to hire William Mutumanje, also known as Acie Lumumba, as chairman of the Treasury Department’s communications task force, Mlilo claims.
Mthuli Ncube faces criminal prosecution over 2 percent tax, RTGS value guarantee
The complaint outlines four potential charges of criminal abuse of power against Ncube, including a failure to address abuse of the foreign currency allocation system at the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe.
“As you know, our client obtained a judgment against the person named above (Ncube), whose judgment is still pending.
“Our client is disturbed by the lackadaisical response to the judgment of the person in question which compelled him to file this criminal complaint.
“Our client observed the behavior of said person on numerous occasions and found an apparent disregard for the law…,” Mlilo’s lawyers said in an October 24 letter to Hodzi.
The attorneys asked Hodzi to “fulfill your constitutional duty to pursue the criminal charges contained herein” or, if he chooses not to pursue the complaint, to issue a “Nolle Prosequi Certificate” – a statement certifying that he will not pursue any lawsuits, which would allow Mlilo to bring private lawsuits.
The lawyers say the Zimbabwean public is “greatly threatened by Ncube’s propensity to implement measures outside the law and then adapt the law to the crime”, adding: “In a constitutional democracy, it is important that everyone understands” that they are not above the law.”
In an affidavit accompanying his complaint, Mlilo described four cases of alleged corruption by Ncube, centering on the collection of the tax, which the Supreme Court had already ruled illegal by the time it was carried out last October.
