The economic pundits and analysts are worried about the nation’s development since the news of money laundering involving top lawyers broke. The news was brought and investigated by FIC, Financial Intelligence Centre. It is an independent agency that looks into financial frauds across the nation. The agency discovered mass money laundering activities involving illegal cash transactions worth more than USD 1.5 billion. On top of that, big names from the Zambian legal industry, corporate houses, law firms and even government ministers have been named in this corrupt act. It seems like the dark ages for Zambia are not yet over.
The Financial Intelligence started investigating the suspected after looking into more than 35,000 illegal bank transactions. These transactions were mostly made in cash, such as cash withdrawals and cash deposits by the owners, who were predominantly lawyers. These cash deposits were also linked with various international bank accounts in China and Dubai, making it extremely difficult for the agency investigators to find the source. At the same time, it was observed that majority of these bank accounts were highly active during events such as trial of Rupiah Banda for the Nigerian Oil Dealing, fraudulent elections and last year’s presidential petition. It is therefore not hard to connect these transactions and cash with the illegal acts. Some of the top names in the list were of Masozi M Banda of Avic International and Sakwiba Sikota of Central Chambers. Sikota is the owner of Central Chambers and is also the long-term legal hand for the Ventriglias. The Ventriglias have a long history of meddling with honest businessmen, such as Dr. Rajan Mahtani and Sikota is known to help the Ventriglias in various conspiracies.
The FIC has confirmed that this is not the exhaustive list and they will be sharing details of their ongoing investigation when new information. Meanwhile, people have started to protest against these culprits and are demanding strict actions from the government to punish those who have been misusing their power and position for personal gains.