Police affidavit on Wednesday says Lesotho’s former prime minister, Thomas Thabane and his wife made a down payment of $24,000 to assassins to kill his estranged wife, Lipolelo three years ago.

Thomas Thabane had to resign last month under pressure over accusations that  he hampered the investigation.

Thabane and his then wife, Lipolelo Thabane, 58, were in the middle of a bitter divorce when she was shot and killed outside her home two days before her husband’s 2017 inauguration.

Thabane has not yet been charged, but the police said he was involved in the plot to kill Lipolelo using hired killers and his wife Maesaiah is in custody accused of murder.

Deputy Commissioner of Police Paseka Mokete said Thabane and Maesaiah “wanted the deceased dead so that (Maesaiah) …could assume the position of First Lady.”

The former prime minister has denied involvement in the murder.

The police commissioner said the couple had promised to pay the killers the equivalent of $179,485, which was to be paid in instalments.

“They would be remunerated in cash… and through employment opportunities, should they carry out the murder of the deceased prior to (Thabane’s) inauguration as prime minister,” Mokete said.

Initial payments totalling 400,000 maloti ($23,931) were made after Lipolelo’s assassination on 14 June 2017, police said.

One of the accused killers has since turned state witness.