ZACC investigators were recently blocked by armed police from conducting searches at the National Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Board and Zimbabwe Mining development Corporation offices.
The High Court ruled that ZACC must not search NIEEB and ZMDC offices, when the anti-graft body stepped out to investigate alleged high level corruption there.
ZACC was also targeting Indigenisation Minister Saviour Kasukuwere, Transport Minister Nicholas Goche and Obert Mpofu, the Minister of Mines.
“We did not challenge the High Court order ruling that our search warrants were not valid because we wanted to regroup and discuss as commissioners on what to do next,” ZACC spokesperson, Goodwill Shana, told reporters today at a press conference on Wednesday.
ZACC had been a subject of attack by state media with Zanu (PF) Tsholotsho MP Jonathan Moyo accusing the anti-graft body’s commissioners of corruption and receiving covert funding from Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor, Gideon Gono.
However, Shana yesterday denied the allegation saying ZACC was not receiving money from anywhere except Treasury. He said a memorandum of understanding signed in 2008 between ZACC staff and the RBZ for financial and material support was way before the current board and secretariat came on board.
The Zimbabwean late last year broke the news that the RBZ bribed commissioners by giving them unclear allowances and housing stands, at a time ZACC was investigating the apex bank.
“It is a desperate attempt to cast aspersions on the image of ZACC.
The people doing so should find something more recent,” Shana said. Shana denied that ZACC secured search warrants from the High Court to “pursue under-hand and malicious investigations against certain organisations, their officials, respective ministered under ministers.”
“ZACC wants to put it on record that it exhausted all prescribed procedures and avenues for obtaining search warrants, including the police and magistrate courts,” he said.
Shana said they approached the High Court after all channels failed, adding that the High Court judge who issued the search warrant believed it had legal merit to grant it.
Shana added: “As ZACC, we are not prompted by political considerations but by reasonable suspicion that a crime has been committed.”
He said ZACC commissioners were appointed by President Robert Mugabe after he was satisfied they had the merit to hold office, adding that questioning their credibility was tantamount to casting aspersion on Mugabe’s judgment.
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