Finance minister jailed in cleanup

HARARE, Zimbabwe — Finance Minister Chris Kuruneri was arrested yesterday for violating currency laws, becoming the first senior government official to be jailed under President Robert Mugabe’s crackdown on corruption.

Mr. Kuruneri, 54, was arrested in Harare for “externalizing foreign currency” worth $1 million over the past two years, police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena said.

But he said it was not clear whether Mr. Kuruneri had siphoned the money out of the country or had failed to repatriate the funds to Zimbabwe in line with the strict laws governing the country’s scarce hard currency reserves.

“It is believed most of the money was destined for South Africa,” the spokesman added.

Mr. Mugabe, under pressure at home and abroad over Zimbabwe’s collapsed economy and faltering civil rights, launched a nationwide anti-corruption drive early this year, appointing a special minister responsible for overseeing the campaign, which he described as “an internal war to fight the evils within our system.”

Mr. Kuruneri was last month reported by South African news media to be building an eight-bedroom mansion in a plush suburb of Cape Town.

So far, two senior officials from Mr. Mugabe’s long-ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) party have been arrested, in addition to several businessmen.

Mr. Kuruneri was named deputy finance minister and economic development minister in 2000 before being elevated to the post of finance minister by Mr. Mugabe in February.

The minister acknowledged in an interview last month with the state-owned Herald newspaper that he owned a house in South Africa, but he rejected charges that the funds were acquired illegally.

Zimbabwe has been experiencing a severe foreign currency shortage, partly blamed on the withdrawal of international aid in the late 1990s.

The currency crunch has compounded the economic and political crisis gripping the country, where inflation now hovers close to 580 percent and the Zimbabwe dollar’s value has plunged.

Earlier this month, the ruling party launched an internal anti-corruption probe to investigate its own companies. The ruling party owns a large stake in two Zimbabwean companies and partial stakes in seven other locally based firms.

Directors of some of the targeted companies have reportedly fled the country, as have a number of banking executives.

The official state radio has been broadcasting a list of people, companies, churches and other organizations that police want to “interview” in connection with what they say are suspected violations of the foreign exchange regulations.