Zimbabwean Named in Probe Takes Poison

A Zimbabwe government minister who resigned last week over black market car deals was in critical condition in a hospital Thursday after taking poison in a suspected suicide attempt, hospital officials said.

Maurice Nyagumbo, former senior political affairs minister who was implicated in the so-called Willowgate scandal by a judicial inquiry, was in critical condition in a hospital here, the officials said.

Nyagumbo, 64, spent 20 years in jail for opposing white-minority rule before Zimbabwe’s independence in 1980. He rose to the No. 4 position in President Robert Mugabe’s government.

He resigned after a judicial inquiry set up by Mugabe to probe shady car deals said last week that he had helped dozens of people to buy new vehicles which they resold on the black market at inflated prices, violating price control laws.