Zimbabwean Presidential Affairs Minister Joram Gumbo found himself in court on November 5, on charges including allegedly corruptly acquiring USD1 million to renovate a property belonging to a relative on the pretext that it was meant for the rental of a head office for Zimbabwe Airways (Harare International), state broadcaster ZBC has reported.
Initial reports said he had been arrested, but his lawyer Selby Hwacha claimed on November 6 that there had been no arrest and that Gumbo had attended court freely to hear the charges against him. The indications were, however, that further charges were likely to emerge. Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission investigators have been questioning him.
Zimbabwe Airways was an airline that was to supposed to supersede moribund national carrier Air Zimbabwe (UM, Harare International). A project hatched by the Mugabe regime in which Gumbo had been transport minister, the stillborn startup was dropped by the Zimbabwean government in 2018.
A long-time ally of current president Emmerson Mnangagwa, Gumbo is alleged to have selected his sister Mavis Gumbo's house in Chishawasha Hills, a suburb of the capital Harare, for use as the nascent carrier's headquarters.
On August 10, 2017, he requested USD1 million from the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, the country's central bank, for office rental and for the salaries of its employees. The money was transferred to a Zimbabwe Airways bank account. In the same month, Gumbo allegedly directed some of the funds towards the rent and renovation of the property.
On September 12, 2017, Zimbabwe Airways deposited USD1 million into a bank account belonging to Maclaten Holdings, a company owned by Mavis Gumbo's daughter Clara Rachael Mudzami. The money was never recovered, according to court documents.
A second charge, read out on November 5, related to Gumbo's reinstatement of an official who was being investigated over a fuel scam in 2015.
