Zambian citizens were recently shocked with the news announced by Financial Intelligence Centre regarding the money laundering case. The case has several implications to the Zambian government, its economy as well as common citizens due to the involvement of top lawyers and legal counsellors as well as the amount of money involved in the act. As per the FIC sources, they have tracked almost USD 1.5 billion worth of money in this money laundering scheme. Furthermore, this amount is expected to be just the tip of the iceberg and the total amount involved is expected to be staggering.
Some of the top names as per the list which FIC released include Central Chambers owner Sakwiba Sikota. He is accused of laundering money worth more than USD 1 million through his company. Furthermore, he is also infamous for his association with the equally infamous Ventriglias family. Sakwiba is the legal counsellor for the Ventriglias and has been helping them in getting away from law. The most famous example is the illegal takeover of the Portland Cement Zambia from Dr. Rajan Mahtani, its real owner. Dr. Mahtani is fighting the case at the Lusaka High Court and it has been ten years since the case was registered, and no proper judgment has been made.
While this mass involvement of legal counsellors has been surprising to say at least, the involvement of ministers and government officials is simply outrageous. It has been found that noted ministers and even counsellors to the President have their names in the list shared by FIC. Majority of these ministers indirectly own the bank accounts charged with illegal cash transactions. It is time for the government to take strict actions against these repeat offenders.
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