Chiredzi West member of Parliament Darlington Chiwa has been arrested on allegations of stealing public money meant for community development, the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) has said.
Chiwa stands accused of diverting Constituency Development Funds (CDF) into his personal bank accounts.
In a statement, ZACC said Chiwa who also chairs the Chiredzi West CDF committee was the sole signatory to the constituency’s bank account after allegedly manipulating other committee members into surrendering their oversight roles.
Allegations are that in April 2025, the Parliament of Zimbabwe transferred ZWG$1 332 430 (about US$50 000) into the Chiredzi West constituency account to fund local development projects.
According to ZACC, Chiwa subsequently moved the money into his personal accounts.
The anti-graft body claims that of the total amount ZWG$993 241 was spent on personal items including building materials, groceries, shoes and beer.
Only ZWG$270 427 was reportedly channelled towards constituency projects.
ZACC further alleges that the MP later submitted fraudulent acquittal documents to Parliament falsely declaring that the entire sum had been used for school development projects in the constituency.
“The accused then submitted false returns to Parliament to conceal the theft,” ZACC said.
Constituency Development Funds are meant to support small-scale infrastructure and social projects such as schools, clinics and roads and have previously been at the centre of corruption allegations involving public officials.
