Wife of Zimbabwe’s vice-president, Mary Chiwenga, has been arrested on charges of money laundering and corruption, Igbere TV has learnt.
Mary is also being charged for externalisation of foreign currency at a time she is considering divorcing her husband and vice-president.
A report sighted by Igbere TV on a popular Zimbabwean website, said Mary was arrested by detectives from the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC).
The country’s second lady has not been seen in public since her husband returned from China where he was hospitalised for over four months.
John Makamure, ZACC spokesman said Mary was detained at a Harare police station as part of investigations into allegations that she was involved in money laundering.
“It’s true that Mary Chiwenga has been picked by Zacc and is assisting with investigations into allegations of money laundering and externalisation levelled against her. That is only what I can tell you” he said.
Chiwenga and his wife are said to have fallen out after the former model allegedly asked the VP to formalise their marriage when he was on his sick bed at a South African hospital.
The former army general who led the military coup that toppled long time ruler Robert Mugabe in 2017 spent the better part of this year battling for his life in hospitals in South Africa, China and India.
When he was flown to China, Mary was allegedly banned from visiting him. On his return to Harare on November 23rd she was not among those that welcomed him at the Robert Mugabe International Airport.