Steve Dii
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- Jun 25, 2007
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Source link: NewZimbabwe.comMugabe suspends attorney general
Last updated: 12/15/2007 15:07:51
ZIMBABWEAN President Robert Mugabe on Friday suspended the country's attorney general to pave way for an investigation into charges of abusing his office.
Sobusa Gula-Ndebele was last month briefly detained by police over allegations he promised to help fugitive banker, James Mushore, who had fled the country. Gula-Ndebele denies the accusations.
SUSPENDED: Gula-Ndebele
Mugabe set up a three-member team to investigate his conduct. Misheck Sibanda, the Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet, said Justice Chinembiri Bhunu will chair the tribunal, which also includes Justice Samuel Kudya and Harare lawyer Lloyd Mhishi.
"The tribunals secretariat will in due course avail all the necessary papers which relate to the inquiry to Gula-Ndebele. After its inquiry, the tribunal will make its recommendations to President Mugabe on whether or not Mr Gula-Ndebele should remain as the countrys Attorney-General," Sibanda said in a statement.
The tribunal is separate to a police investigation. He is charged with corrupt conduct, which attracts a heavy fine and maximum 15 years in jail, if convicted. A trial date has yet to be set.
Gula-Ndebele could not be reached for comment on Saturday.
Police say that in September Gula-Ndebele met Mushore, the former director of banking group NMBZ Holdings and promised him he would not be arrested if he returned to Zimbabwe.
Mushore fled to Britain in 2004 at the height of a Zimbabwean banking crisis that saw several finance houses shut down by the country's central bank. He was arrested in October upon his return to Zimbabwe.
Local papers have been quick to report that the accusations against Gula-Ndebele were politically motivated.
Newspapers said he had clashed with Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa over control of the attorney-general's department, which oversees the functions of the country's prosecutors. - Reuters
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