ANY person who engages in any form of corruption will be arrested and prosecuted as no one is above the law, President Mnangagwa has said.
Posting on his Twitter handle, the President, who has
declared zero tolerance to corruption since coming to office in 2017 and has
led an anti-graft crusade that has claimed the scalps of Government ministers
and directors, said there were no excuses when it comes to graft.
“Let me be very clear. If you engage in or promote
corruption, you will be arrested and prosecuted. There are no excuses for
corruption. No one is above the law,” he said.
This comes as the Government has expressed concern with
growing cases of name-dropping whereby some people claim to be connected to
critical offices in order to evade arrests.
Particularly, the First Family has suffered the most from
name-dropping as unscrupulous elements have often evoked names of members to
wriggle themselves from arrests.
On Sunday, First Lady Auxillia Mnangagwa had to issue a
statement after a man who is implicated in the gold smuggling case involving
Henrietta Rushwaya falsely claimed that members of the First Family were
involved.
And comprehensive investigations that were carried by the
police have since established that the accused man Gift Karanda, lied to police
officers in order to obstruct or defeat the course of justice.
In a statement, the police confirmed that Karanda was now
facing charges of contravening the Criminal Codification and Reform Act
“Defeating or Obstructing the Course of Justice”.
“He is also facing charges of contravening section 3(1)(a)
of the gold Trade Act (Chapter 21;03), dealing in and possession of gold
without being a holder of a licence permit and also contravening section 182(1)
of the Customs and Excise Act (Chapter 23;02), smuggling.
“This relates to the utterances to law enforcement officers
at the Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport on October 26, 2020, when he
indicated that there was no case as the gold belonged to First Lady Auxillia
Mnangagwa and her son Collins Mnangagwa. Comprehensive investigations have
proved that the statement by Gift Karanda was false and malicious with intent
to defeat or obstruct the course of justice. As such he was accordingly charged
and the case is pending before the courts,” said Senior Assistant Commissioner
Nyathi.
In a statement on Sunday, the Permanent Secretary in the
Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Services, Mr Nick Mangwana, also
warned the public against abusing the First Family’s name to carry out illegal
activities.
“His Excellency, President Mnangagwa has demonstrated his
zero tolerance stance on corruption and organised crime. On her part, the First
Lady Amai Auxillia Mnangagwa, has distanced herself and the family from any of
the suspects involved in the gold smuggling case.
“All security apparatus have standing orders to enforce the
law blinded to who a person is, knows or is related to. The law itself has adequate
provisions to deal with those who interfere with its application or processes,”
said Mr Mangwana.
Those who tried to defeat the course of justice by invoking
names of powerful or influential people would face the full wrath of the law.
“Government would like to urge citizens to report all
suspected cases of crime and corruption to relevant law enforcement agencies
and not manipulate such cases for political clout using falsehoods and
innuendo,” he said. Herald
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