LUSAKA, Zambia – Zambia’s Health Minister Chitalu Chilufya has been arrested on suspicion of corruption, an anti-graft body said on Wednesday.

Chilufya, 47, was charged with four counts of possession of property reasonably suspected of being the proceeds of crime, Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) spokesman Jonathan Siame said in a statement. The statement did not specify the property.

“The arrest follows investigations the Commission has been conducting against the minister in relation to the above allegations,” the statement said.

The anti-corruption commission said it noticed last month that Chilufya, a medical doctor, had suddenly amassed a fortune.

Chilufya, who faces a maximum of five years in jail if convicted, has been released and is expected to appear before the Lusaka Magistrate’s Court on July 9, 2020.

The ACC has had little success in prosecuting people in senior government positions.

Last year, Ronald Chitotela, who was then housing minister, was arrested but continued to serve in government and was cleared of the allegations. – Reuters