Prominent lawyers from Zambian were recently caught under suspicion of illegal money laundering racket scheme. This scheme was uncovered by FIC (Financial Intelligence Centre), a lawmaking and intelligence centre from Zambia. The FIC released a list of names including those who are under investigation in this money laundering scheme. The more shocking part of this revelation is that the list consists of many prominent lawyers and lawmakers’ name who is currently working in reputation positions in public and private sector enterprises. What’s worse, some of these lawyers are also working with government officials and even ministers. This breaking news has definitely shaken the Zambian law and order. The level of corruption and its reach across Zambian government is prominent with this breaking news.
Among the names in the list, one of them is Sakwiba Sikota. This name must sound familiar as he is the legal counselor for the Ventriglias, the notorious Italian family which has been under fire for various accusations. Sikota is the owner of Central Chambers, a prominent law agency whose name has been revealed in the list. Majority of the lawyers who have been caught under suspicion have defended themselves by arguing that the cash transactions and money in their bank accounts for government projects such as road construction. However, this defense is not adding up as the amount of cash transactions under investigation is much more and also unaccounted for. A similar case has been found in Sakwiba Sikota’s case. It is expected that the money is from the Ventriglias for handling illegal activities.
The major reason for the FIC to start their investigation before unearthing this huge money laundering racket was the amount of illegal cash transactions, which was almost one billion US dollars. All the lawyers and other individuals on the list are under investigation and scrutiny. The FIC has also assured that further details will be shared with the public once they are unearthed during the investigation.