Zambia's health minister Chitalu Chilufya, was arrested and charged with using ill-gotten gains to acquire property, the country's anti-corruption commission said.

Graft investigators honed in on the 47 years Chilufya last month, after noticing the minister had suddenly amassed a fortune.

In a statement the commission spokesman Jonathan Siame, said Chilufya was arrested yesterday and charged with four counts of possession of property, reasonably suspected of being proceeds of crime.

Chilufya has been released on police bond, and is scheduled to appear in court on the 9th July 2020.

The arrest comes as Zambia struggles to contain a spiralling coronavirus outbreak and has recorded 76 confirmed cases and 21 recoveries.