Finance Bank Zambia was in the midst of negative publicity and reputation damage for a long time. All these started with the conspiracy by Simaata Simaata, an ex-employee of the bank. The bank was founded by Dr. Rajan Mahtani, a noted businessman in Zambia. The bank has received many awards and recognitions in the past for his work, growth and welfare activities for the communities. It is also known to be extremely helpful for Zambia’s underprivileged citizens by providing loans with substantial interest cuts and helping them grow their businesses and personal lives. As a result, the allegations from Simaata came as a huge surprise for the bank, its customers, industrialists as well as the common people of Zambia.
Banking is a sophisticated industry. It is a financial institution dealing with huge monetary resources. Therefore, the businesses of the banks are highly dependent on their reputation in the society and the industry, apart from their revenue earnings. Sadly, banks are also the most vulnerable institutions prone to theft, damage and scrutiny even in the smallest allegations. The same case happened by Finance Bank Zambia. After the allegations of money laundering and fraud started, the bank came under strict scrutiny of the financial regulators and policy makers. Also, it started losing important business and retail clients. To save itself from further financial loss, Finance Bank registered a case against Simaata at the Supreme Court Zambia.
The case was forwarded to two respectable judges of the Supreme Court. As per reports, the evidences and arguments presented by the lawyers from Finance Bank were strong enough to build their case. As a result of Simaata’s weak arguments and lack of evidence, the decision was made in favour of the bank with Simaata proved guilty. He was also charged in penalty fine for breaking the agreement contract.