1,300 suspicious transactions checked

THE Financial Intelligence Centre has from 2013 to date handled 1,300 suspicious money transactions and laundering with tax evasion being the main cases handled.
Financial Intelligence Centre chief executive officer Mary Chirwa said of the total 1,300 suspected cases, about 30 percent were reported to various law enforcement agencies.
The organisation is an autonomous body created in 2013 to combat money laundering, terrorist financing and other financial crimes by analysing and disseminating the suspected reports to relevant law enforcement agencies.
Ms Chirwa said in an interview on Wednesday that a number of reports have been disseminated to the law enforcement agencies and has worked closely with Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) because tax related cases are more prevalent.
“When you look at our trends report, which looks at prevalent crimes, tax evasion has been the prevalent offence. We have been working closely with ZRA to identify businesses that are operating without licenses, businesses that are making money but, are not remitting taxes and those that are evading taxes through transfer prices,” she said.
She said ZRA has been able to assess various tax related cases amounting to about K50 billion.
Ms Chirwa said there is need to ensure sanity in the financial sector by monitoring and reporting suspicious transactions.
In a separate interview, Bank of Zambia senior analyst for policy and research Calvin Habasonda said there is need to train personal in the financial sector to detect suspicious transactions.
Mr Habasonda said money laundering is the threat to the economy as it affects competition, rule of law and governance.