HARARE – A judge has ordered the release of corruption-accused former finance minister Ignatius Chombo’s passport to allow him to receive medical attention in South Africa.
Chombo, who faces a string of charges relating to land allocations while he was local government minister, has a “life threatening” medical condition, according to his doctors.
A magistrate ordered Chombo to be given his passport in August, but state security agents stopped him at the airport and seized his passport which later turned up at the prosecutor’s office.
A second attempt to get his passport before a different magistrate failed after the magistrate said Chombo was a flight risk, prompting him to turn to the High Court.
On Wednesday, Justice Tawanda Chitapi ordered prosecutors to give the 67-year-old his passport.
Conditions attached to the order are that Chombo must return by December 3 and surrender the passport. Chombo must also surrender title deeds for his Marlborough home.
Chombo was finance minister when the military staged a coup in 2017, scattering loyalists of former president Robert Mugabe. Many fled to exile, but Chombo was captured by the military and unlawfully held for several days at a secret location.
