A FORMER Cabinet minister was on Sunday forced to abort his
trip after security agents forcibly took his passport at Robert Gabriel Mugabe
International Airport in Harare.
Ignatius Chombo’s passport was released to him on Friday
last week after the National Prosecution Authority consented to his application
for the release on the grounds that he wanted to seek medical attention in
South Africa.
During the November 2017 coup which deposed former
President Robert Mugabe, Chombo, who is facing several corruption allegations,
was Finance minister.
Previously, he had served in the Home Affairs, Local
Government as well as Higher and Tertiary Education portfolios.
A source told NewsDay that there was a scuffle at the RGM
International Airport after the security agents took his passport.
The source said the passport was, however, surrendered at
the Harare Magistrates’ Court clerk office.
Contacted for comment, Chombo’s lawyer Tungamirai Muganhiri
could neither confirm nor deny the developments, asking to be contacted today
for a comment.
Several former senior government officials who include
Saviour Kasukuwere and Walter Mzembi, among others, have been on warrants of
arrests after absconding their trials.
Last month, the courts confiscated Kasukuwere’s holiday
home in Nyanga after he failed to appear in court for his trial.
Kasukuwere, Mzembi and Shadreck Mashayamombe had their
passports released on the grounds of seeking medical attention in foreign
lands, but they have since vanished.
Harare magistrate Barbara Mateko had released Chombo’s
passport and postponed his matters to June 27, with the prosecutor Tapiwa
Kasema’s consent. Newsday
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