Women’s Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Minister Monica Mutsvangwa has said the charges of illegal foreign currency trading against her son, Neville, were fabricated.
Neville was arrested on Wednesday at his Mt Pleasant home in Harare by detectives from the CID commercial crimes unit on allegations of contravening the Exchange Control Act by illegally trading in foreign currency.
On his WhatsApp status on Monday, Neville posted a message stating “18.75” which was interpreted by some as an advertisement of the street rate for the ZiG to the United States dollar.
Some reports suggest that the post triggered Mutsvangwa’s arrest.
In audio circulating on social media platforms, Neville’s mother, Monica, is heard saying the charges were cooked up. She said:
It’s definitely political victimisation because my son doesn’t trade in foreign currency, he doesn’t trade in ZiG so I don’t know what it is and why it had to wait for me to be out of the country. It appears it was timed to coincide with my absence.
According to ZimLive, this is not the first time that Neville has made headlines for the wrong reasons.
He was twice arrested for sexual offences. In the first instance, he allegedly raped a woman in Harare, and in the second instance, he allegedly tried to rape a second woman in Mutare. He was never convicted.
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In 2019, police raided Neville’s office at 3 Sanfenand Flats on Fife Avenue in Harare where he was allegedly conducting illegal foreign currency deals. He was away but police found US$200,000.
Four detectives allegedly conspired with Mutsvangwa’s workers to under-declare the money found on the premises by seizing US$40,000 instead of the full amount.
It was alleged that by the time they got to the police station, the money had gone down to US$20,000. The four detectives were subsequently arrested for the theft of US$20,000.
Neville was also recently accused of undermining government policy after selling Starlink units in Zimbabwe, despite a POTRAZ ban.
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