Zimbabwean police investigate finance minister

Harare, 24 Jun – (ANA) - Zimbabwean police said today they had launched an investigation which links finance minister Tendai Biti to the disappearance of $20 million in a failed bank.

Biti told the Sunday Mail he was not responsible for the missing money, which was part of a 2009 emergency International Monetary Fund (IMF) facility and intended to help distressed manufacturing firms. The paper said Biti had transferred the money from the IMF into local bank Interfin, closed this month due to a liquidity crisis.

"Yes the money is missing. The fact that Interfin was appointed the fund manager means it was them who were handling the money and not me," he told the Sunday Mail.

"I no longer had a say on how the money was managed." Assistant police commissioner Wayne Bvudzijena told Reuters on Sunday: "There is an investigation going on but I cannot give any details at the moment." (ANA)

FA/ANA/24 June 2012--------