Zimbabwean in court over 'fake coronavirus contracts'

A Zimbabwean businessman is due to appear in court for a bail hearing, charged in connection with a multimillion-dollar coronavirus medicine and equipment procurement scandal.

Delish Nguwaya is facing two charges of misrepresentation and fraud after he allegedly tried to secure contracts to supply a state firm.

He's the first person to be arrested in a scandal that was initially exposed on social media.

People started raising questions about how a controversial businessman, who had failed a vetting process months earlier, had managed to set up a new company and secure millions of dollars' worth of contracts to supply medicines and equipment - some at hugely inflated prices.

The government has said it has now cancelled his contract.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa has long pledged to stamp out corruption, but his government has secured only two convictions in nearly three years despite many prominent arrests.