Police caught former opposition lawmaker Obert Manduna on Friday evening around 5PM. The Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission had been hunting him for weeks over fraud charges. Manduna represents Citizens Coalition for Change and claims he lives at fancy Kenilworth Towers apartments. Court documents show he actually has no permanent home address. Officers believe this arrest might lead to discovering more crimes.
Manduna tricked a woman named Sithulisiwe Sibanda between October 2020 and February 2022. He used a fake legal document to convince her he could sell her property for 6500 US dollars. The city council had already taken back the land from her. The real property owner never gave Manduna permission to make any deals. Sibanda paid him 5900 dollars and never got her money back.
When anti-corruption investigators started looking for him, Manduna became very hard to find. Police searched four different addresses but nobody knew him at any location. He kept changing his phone numbers and rented different cars to avoid detection. Manduna even called investigators crying and said he would poison himself when they sent him court papers. Officers ignored his threats and kept searching for him.
The court refused to let Manduna go free on Saturday because he might run away. Investigators worry he could scare witnesses since some people got anonymous phone calls telling them to stay quiet. The magistrate gave corruption fighters 48 hours to check his phones and bank records. Manduna faced similar fraud charges before involving school money but avoided punishment through legal loopholes.
Manduna tricked a woman named Sithulisiwe Sibanda between October 2020 and February 2022. He used a fake legal document to convince her he could sell her property for 6500 US dollars. The city council had already taken back the land from her. The real property owner never gave Manduna permission to make any deals. Sibanda paid him 5900 dollars and never got her money back.
When anti-corruption investigators started looking for him, Manduna became very hard to find. Police searched four different addresses but nobody knew him at any location. He kept changing his phone numbers and rented different cars to avoid detection. Manduna even called investigators crying and said he would poison himself when they sent him court papers. Officers ignored his threats and kept searching for him.
The court refused to let Manduna go free on Saturday because he might run away. Investigators worry he could scare witnesses since some people got anonymous phone calls telling them to stay quiet. The magistrate gave corruption fighters 48 hours to check his phones and bank records. Manduna faced similar fraud charges before involving school money but avoided punishment through legal loopholes.
