Zimbabwean authorities have arrested the wife of Vice President Constantino Chiwenga on charges of money laundering, fraud and violating exchange control regulations, the country’s anti-corruption body has said.
Marry Mubaiwa, 38, was arrested on Saturday evening and will likely appear in court on Monday, Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) spokesman John Makamure said on Sunday.
Appointed by President Emmerson Mnangagwa this year, ZACC is under pressure to show that it can tackle high-level corruption, which watchdog Transparency International estimates is costing the country $1bn annually.
An internal ZACC memorandum of the charges seen by Reuters news agency showed that between October 2018 and May 2019 Mubaiwa is accused of unlawfully transferring $919,000 to South Africa under the guise of importing goods, which it claims she never did.
The timing of Mubaiwa’s arrest will likely raise eyebrows after local private media reported two weeks ago that she was going through a divorce with her husband Chiwenga.
The ZACC memo accused Mubaiwa of fraudulently obtaining a marriage certificate without Chiwenga’s consent earlier this year when the vice president was ill. The two have been married under Zimbabwe’s customary law since 2011 and have two children.
Chiwenga returned home last month after spending four months in China receiving medical treatment for a blocked oesophagus. He has not been seen with Chiwenga in public, including at the annual governing party conference that ended on Saturday.
