HARARE – The investigation into contracts worth over US$50 million for the supply of election materials to the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) will be conducted without fear or favour, the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission chairman Michael Reza has declared.

The investigation will initially be focused on businessmen Wicknell Chivayo, Mike Chimombe and Moses Mpofu, who allegedly played the role of middlemen in securing the contracts for South African company Ren Form CC, without a public tender.

They are accused of encouraging Ren Form to inflate invoices, following which the company transferred the “markup” – millions of dollars – to bank accounts controlled by the three men.

Reza, responding to questions from journalists, also confirmed that investigators would review the actions of senior ZEC officials, vowing: “There will be no sacred cows.”

Chivayo, Chimombe and Mpofu, meanwhile, are all out of the country.

“We know they have their rights and we respect the law… but we have our time limit. If they don’t come, we will go after them,” Reza said.

He said ZACC had taken note of voice notes, now leaked, which Chivayo sent to a closed group at the height of his friendship with Mpofu and Chimombe.

“When the first audio was leaked. there was not much for ZACC to go by. But when the document was circulated and a second audio came out there was substance from which we could commence investigations and that’s what we did,” Reza said.

“So our investigators are in the process of checking what they found so far. But I can tell you… we have called these three gentlemen, we have certain documents which we will present to them.

“I hope I’m not prejudicing investigations but I want Zimbabweans to know that we have not been sitting on this investigation.”

The ZACC boss, a former prosecutor, believes they have a fairly strong case of corruption which they can take to court.

“If everything goes according to plan, we will go to court. You will see detailed information with facts, figures and numbers. You will see those things mark my words,” he said.

“I want Zimbabweans to know that there are no sacred cows in the fight against corruption and that is the stance we have taken as ZACC.”