BY RICHARD MUPONDE/MIRIAM MANGWAYA FORMER Finance minister Ignatius Chombo was last night detained at Rhodesville Police Station in Harare following his arrest on charges of fraud and criminal abuse of office over illegal parcelling out of State land. Chombo, who allegedly committed the offences during his tenure as Local Government minister in the late former President Robert Mugabe’s government, is alleged to have connived with the former First Lady Grace Mugabe to illegally acquire State land. He was detained after being interrogated by the Special Anti-Corruption Unit (Sacu), a unit in President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s office, following his implication as a key figure in the illegal sale of State land in Justice Tendai Uchena’s Land Commission report. Sacu head Thabani Mpofu declined yesterday to confirm Chombo’s arrest, referring questions to police, but the former minister’s lawyer Lovemore Madhuku confirmed that his client was being held at Rhodesville Police Station. “Chombo was initially summoned for questioning in the morning. However, after questioning him, they decided to detain him. Right now, as we speak, he is currently detained at Rhodesville Police Station. He will appear before the courts tomorrow (today),” Madhuku said. National police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi said: “I just heard it on (radio). I am yet to check whether he has been arrested by the police or Sacu.” A leaked State outline seen by NewsDay showed that Chombo faces one count of fraud and five counts of criminal abuse of office charges after he allegedly illegally parcelled out land to himself and Grace. However, in his warned-and cautioned-statement, Chombo denied the charges. He said he did not receive any money from land seekers. “There are no registered stands in my name as alleged, nor was I given any. An investigation with the Deeds Registry will prove that with regards to the alleged stands in Philadelphia or Haydon Farm. “A check at the Companies’ Registry will also show that I am neither director nor shareholder in the three companies (alleged I allocated stands to) … There is absolutely no basis for these allegations. I committed no fraud or criminal abuse of office and at all time I executed my duties as a government minister in full compliance with the law,” Chombo said. Allegations are that sometime between 2000 and 2015, Chombo illegally caused desperate land seekers to deposit money into his personal Agribank account, but he did not remit the funds for development purposes. He allegedly misrepresented to the land seekers that he would allocate them stands at Kia Ora Farm under Zvimba Rural District Council (RDC), but failed to do so. On another count, Chombo allegedly used his influence as a minister and grabbed 125 commonage stands at Haydon Farm under Zvimba Rural District Council. He also allocated himself five low-density residential stands at Philadelphia Farm in Harare, and then he allocated three of the stands to his associates. It is further alleged that during that same period, Chombo grabbed s