Financial Intelligence Centre recently revealed a big money laundering scheme involving top legal counsellors and lawyers across Zambia. As per the reports, money worth more than USD 1.5 billion is expected to be involved in this money laundering activity. On top of that, politicians and government officials have also been linked in this money laundering act. It is considered as one of the biggest money laundering act revealed in recent decade.
The FIC sources revealed that they had been investigating this money laundering for the past nine month. During this investigation, around 35,700 suspicious and illegal cash transactions were recorded, involving more than USD 1 billion. This amount was linked to the individual & corporate bank accounts of the lawyers and legal counsellors, many of whom have been named in the list. Some of the top names included Sakwiba Sikota and Masozi M. Banda, both of whom are accused of laundering money worth more than USD 1 billion. Banda is a lawyer from Avic International while Sakiwba Sikota is the owner of Central Chambers. Sikota is further infamous for his long-term relationship with the Ventriglias. The Ventriglias are known for their unethical practices, for instance, illegally taking over the Portland Cement Zambia from Dr. Rajan Mahtani. Dr. Mahtani is a noted businessman and philanthropist and is still fighting for the case at the Lusaka High Court.
Most of the money involved in this laundering act was used for funding illegal activities such as Nigerian oil dealings, illegal elections and presidential petitions. It is easy to link these bank accounts and cash transactions with the above illegal practices as the transactions were extremely active during these times. When some of the lawyers accused of the money laundering act were approached, they simply defended themselves by saying that the amount they have in their bank accounts in for government activities such as road construction. However, no such account exists as per the government record.
Now that this money laundering act has become public, it is the duty of the Zambian government to take strict actions against these culprits. The FIC has reported that it will be sharing new reports of the investigation soon.