Former Vice President, Phelekezela Mphoko is on the run following his dramatic evasion of Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) investigators in Bulawayo on Monday.
ZACC said that law enforcement agents on the country’s border posts have since been alerted as a massive manhunt has been launched for the former diplomat.
ZACC spokesperson Commissioner John Makamure said:
The position remains the same and Mr Mphoko’s whereabouts are still not known. Our officers are still on the ground looking for him.
We are working closely with other law enforcement agents on the case and we have since alerted all the border posts to prevent his escape.
Mphoko faces arrest over criminal abuse of office charges emanating from 2016 while he was serving as a Deputy to former President Robert Mugabe.
He is alleged to have unlawfully instructed junior police officers at Harare’s Avondale Police Station to release from cells, former Zimbabwe National Road Administration (ZINARA) acting chief executive Moses Juma.
Mphoko’s lawyer, Zibusiso Ncube told VOA’s Studio 7 that Mphoko was afraid of being poisoned if he was taken into custody. He said:
The client fears that if he leaves the court, and he is in cells – whether prison cells, court cells or police cells – they will inject him with poison. That’s his fear.