In one of its most shocking revelations ever, the Financial Intelligence Centre revealed that top class lawyers and legal counsellors from Zambia have been caught in a money laundering scheme. According to the reports, the amount of money circulated within the scheme is more than USD 1 billion. Investigations are still going on and in the meantime, FIC released a list containing names of individuals involved in money laundering against whom sufficient evidences have been collected. These are some of the top-notch lawyers working with big firms and even with the government. This clearly indicates the level of penetration achieved by these corrupt officers.
As per the FIC, more than 35,000 cash transactions were observed linked with the individual and private bank accounts of the individuals who were in radar. Along with this, the FIC also reported that majority of the transactions were conducted during illegal and corrupt campaigns such as trial of Rupaih Banda for the Nigerian Oil deal and illegal Presidential elections. It is clear that these transactions were conducted to fund these events. Furthermore, names such as Masozi M Banda and Sakwiba Sikota have been named in the list. Banda is the lawyer for Avik International and has worked with prominent business and political figures. He has been accused of laundering money worth more than USD 1 million. Similarly, Sakwiba Sikota is the owner of Central Chambers and long term legal counsellor for the Ventriglias.
FIC reveals that the actual money laundering scheme is much bigger than what they have been able to investigate till now. Government has also started investigating into the matter and has assured that they will share any new information as and when it arrives.
