The state prosecutor of Zimbabwe has dropped the fraud charges pending against some of the officials from the Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC), news outlets report.

Five high-level officials from the ZMDC, as well as the director of the Core Mining company, Lovemore Kurotwi, were arrested and accused of obtaining a license to mine the country's rich diamond fields in Chiadzwa by falsely representing their financial status.

According to South Africa's Sunday Times, charges against three of the mining officials have been dropped entirely and they are now expected to serve as witnesses for the prosecution against two of the other men, whose pending charges have been altered to conspiracy to defraud the state.

Kurotwi remains under investigation, although he claims he is being victimized by Minister for Mines and Mining Development Obert Mpofu, who allegedly demanded $10 million in bribe money for recommending that Core Mining partner with the ZMDC. He refused to pay the minister.

Mpofu argues that Kurotwi misled him, telling him incorrectly that Benny Steinmetz Group Resources was a potential investor in diamond mining in Zimbabwe. However, Steinmetz wrote to the government stating that it had no intention of investing in diamond projects in Zimbabwe unless human rights and legal issues were fully resolved.