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Zim law: 7 days without trial
14/02/2004 14:42 - (SA)
Harare - Zimbabwe's government has formalised anti-corruption regulations giving it the power to detain people for seven days without trial, a local newspaper reported on Saturday.
The state-owned Herald said the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act covered among others corruption, money laundering, the export of foreign currency and the unauthorised disposal or dealing in gold or precious stones.
"No court shall admit such a person to bail for a period of seven days from the date when an order or warrant for this further detention was issued," the newspaper said.
Zimbabwe lost millions of dollars last year from the smuggling of gold outside of the country, prompting President Robert Mugabe's ruling Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic Front (Zanu-PF) to crack down on corruption.
Gold is southern African country's top foreign exchange earner.
The police are currently holding businessman and ruling Zanu-PF member James Mkamba, who was arrested on Monday for allegedly exporting foron corruption charges before being granted bail.
Circumvent fundamental rights
The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) on Saturday criticised the new regulations, saying they were designed to circumvent fundamental rights contained in the Zimbabwe constitution.
"The arrest of Messers Chiyangwa and Makamba and these new regulations are simply a smoke screen designed to trick the Zimbabwean electorate into believing that Zanu-PF is serious about tackling corruption," said a statement from MDC legal secretary David Coltart.
Earlier this week Mugabe created a ministry of anti-corruption and anti-monopolies programmes to be headed by a veteran politician and ruling party stalwart, Didymus Mutasa.
According to the corruption watchdog Transparency International Zimbabwe (TIZ) corruption levels in the politically troubled southern African country have soared in recent years.
The TIC said in a recent report that millions of Zimbabwe dollars were fleeing the country while a dual pricing system for government entities and the rest of the population was fostering a burgeoning black market for scarce goods like fuel and maize.
- AFP
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