The former president of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe has been summoned by the country’s parliament to testify in an ongoing investigation into missing revenue from diamond mining.
Mr. Mugabe will be questioned on May 9 over his 2016 claim that the country lost $15 billion in income from diamonds due to corruption and foreign exploitation.
Mugabe’s own regime has been accused of siphoning off diamond profits, but the current parliament wants to get to the bottom of the missing $15 billion revenue.
A committee in Zimbabwe’s parliament announced that the former leader would be needed to provide some details on the missing revenue.
A lawmaker, Temba Mliswa told AFP that “The committee resolved to call the former president to testify.”
“He was the president, and we want to know where he was getting the $15 billion figure,” Mliswa added.
Meanwhile Mr. Mugabe has revealed that his claim in 2016 that $15 billion diamond revenue had gone missing was “all lies”, according to media reports.
The 94 year old told the privately owned Zimbabwe Independent that the “whole $15bn loot was an urban legend that had no factual basis”.
“It was just a figure. I was given that by some officials, that figure had been circulating around, but really it was not confirmed; it was just a story and there was that figure involved,” Mugabe was quoted as saying.
Robert Mugabe was forced to resign from power in 2017 after a military takeover haven ruled the country for decades.
He was succeeded by Emmerson Mnangagwa who has vowed to restore the economic fortunes of the Southern African country.
Source: Africafeeds.com
