Suspended Zimbabwe Miners Federation (ZMF) president Henrietta Rushwaya has been cleared of allegations of opening secret Nostro accounts where miners allegedly deposited fees.
An investigation conducted by a special committee set up by the federation established that the former ZIFA boss did not open any Nostro accounts without the knowledge of other ZMF members.
ZMF chairperson Makumba Nyenje on Tuesday confirmed that the probe exonerated Rushwaya of any wrongdoing. He said:
Actually, they are not secret accounts, they are accounts which they opened on behalf of the organisation.
We discovered that they were waiting for other signatories to bring their documents.
It is above board and no money has been deposited into the accounts.
Rushwaya was suspended from ZMF following her arrest at the Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport on Monday last week while trying to smuggle more than 6kg of gold worth US$330 000 to Dubai.
She has however claimed that she picked up the wrong bag with four gold bars instead of a similar bag with her clothes when she went to the airport.
During her bail application hearing before Harare Regional Magistrate Ngoni Nduna on Tuesday, Rushwaya also argued that her arrest was being used for political expedience aimed at “soiling’’ the name of the First Family.