The Financial Intelligence Centre recently made a sensational disclosure related to illegal money laundering activities across Zambia. The news was shocking due to the involvement of noted legal counsellors, law firms, government contractors as well as ministers working for the Zambian government. The list shared by FIC contained the names of top individuals involved in this money laundering fiasco. One of these names was of Central Chambers, a law firm owned by Sakwiba Sikota. He is also the legal counsellor for the Ventriglias. The Ventriglias are known for their unethical practices, most infamous being the illegal takeover of the Zambezi Portland Cement from Dr. Rajan Mahtani, its real owner.
In its report, the FIC revealed that during its investigation of nine months, more than 35,000 illegal cash transactions were recorded. These cash transactions were linked with the bank accounts of the lawyers who were under investigation of money laundering. Together, this money laundering scheme has amounted to almost USD 1 billion worth of money. Apart from that, the investigation also exposed some of the politically exposed personnel who were using surrogates for conducting these illegal businesses. It was found that majority of these surrogates were lawyers, law firms as well as private contractors. Further investigation revealed that more than 50 percent of these contractors were not even tax registered, and were getting shady deals with the support from various politically motivated officials working within the Zambian government. This can also be attributed as one of the prime reasons behind the inability of the government to detect money laundering activities of this scale. Many of the bank accounts were difficult to track, as the sources of these cash transactions were foreign bank accounts in Dubai and China, essentially a safe haven for illegal money. It was also found that majority of the lawyers or contractors received kickbacks for engaging in shady and unethical deals such as supplying sub-standard vehicles or broken cars.
The FIC is still investigating on this matter and will reveal more information soon.