The Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc), working with the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) is investigating about 19 000 cases of corruption involving civil servants that abused the free import duty on vehicles.
Government extended the waiver to civil servants to import vehicles free of duty and many have been abusing the facility, importing vehicles for their relatives and friends, while others were buying cars outside the country for car dealers.
They would be paid as much as US$1 000 for each vehicle depending on the make and price.
Zacc deputy chair Kuziwa Murapa said a number of cases have gone to court.
Zacc investigates and hands over to police or prosecution for further management.
“Having been given authority to import cars duty free, number of civil servants abused the facility. So, we are looking at investigating close to 19 000 cases and 2 000 of those are certain. A number of them have already gone into court,” he said.
He was addressing delegates at the international anti-corruption conference organised by Bindura University of Education with the aim of positioning the education sector in the fight against corruption.
“We don’t do this in isolation but we cooperate with other institutions and agencies,” he said.
Zacc is also chasing after several assets stashed outside the country after identifying them as proceeds of corruption and externalization of funds.
Murapa said processes are being done to repatriate some of the proceeds as Zacc targets to recover USD1 billion worth of stolen assets cumulatively.
