This week the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists released what it termed the FinCEN Files, which is an investigation that reveals the role of global banks in industrial-scale money laundering and the bloodshed and suffering that flow in its wake. The transactions were flagged by financial institutions as suspicious to United States authorities. The transactions were dated from 2000 to 2017. Freelance journalist, Chamwe Kaira looks at what the files said about Zambia.
The ICIJ investigations show that a suspicious US$462 million was transferred from Citi Bank N.A in the United States to Stanbic Bank Zambia between 25 October 2013 and 22 August 2014. This was the biggest transaction recorded in Zambia under the suspicious files. Another transaction of US$6 million was transferred from Deutsche Bank AG to Standard Chartered Bank Zambia Limited between 6 December and 30 May 2012. It is not clear who sent the money from Citi Bank and Deutsche Bank AG to Zambia, who received it in Zambia and what it was used for. This information can only be revealed by the Bank of Zambia, Stanbic Bank and the Financial Intelligence Centre.
The same report show that US$11 million was transferred in what the report termed as suspicious transactions from Zambia to other countries during the period 2000 to 2017. Zambia recorded 159 suspicious transactions, according to data extracted from the FinCEN Files. The transactions were processed through US banks and were transferred between the US, Zambia and seven other countries.
The banks named in the report as having received or transferred suspicious transactions include Finance Bank of Zambia, First National Bank SAL based in Beirut and Standard Chartered.
According to the data, the US$11 million transferred from Zambia went to banks like First National Bank SAL , Société Générale de Banque au Liban, Bank of Beirut Arab, Commercial Bank of Dubai , Emirates, Nbd Bank PJSC, Hong Kong Shanghai, Bank Danamon Indonesia PT.
The data by FinCEN Files contains information on more than US$35 billion in transactions worldwide dating from 2000 to 2017 that were flagged by financial institutions as suspicious to United States authorities.
The data provides information about the US based “correspondent” banks that allow financial institutions in more than 150 countries and territories to process payments in US dollars.
The records include more than 2 100 suspicious activity reports filed by nearly 90 financial institutions to the United States’ Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, known as FinCEN. The documents were shared by BuzzFeed News with ICIJ and 108 media partners in 88 countries and include information on more than US$2 trillion in transactions dated from 1999-2017 that had been flagged by the banks as suspicious.
To extract as much information as possible from the narratives of the suspicious activity reports in FinCEN Files, ICIJ, BuzzFeed News and media partners collaborated to manually collate data on transactions and correspondent connections from each report. The team working on this data extraction involved more than 85 journalists in 30 countries, who collectively were able to record details on more than 200 000 transactions and more than 6 900 correspondent connections.
Hh moving files again. He knew that the law is slowly closing in on him due to his shady privatisation past. Now he is moving millions around. Boma iyanganepo
Now you journalists must do your job. In a functioning democracy you are expected to demand information from government or the central bank because the story you have broken above is not complete. We all want to know what happened to these moneys you have mentioned. If This information can only be revealed by the Bank of Zambia, Stanbic Bank and the Financial Intelligence Centre they have an obligation to reveal it to all citizens. This is why Zambia needs a free press because media which is controlled by government will easily be told to lay off such stories
Chamwe Kaira, My boi
Imwe where are our comments?
Sounds like blood diamond money, well that is the precious minerals not declaimed through ZRA.
They should search RB’s pockets too.
Those businesses of selling human organs by PF.
This is big money in a small economy such as Zambia. It cannot move without relevant authorities knowing that it has moved, why it has moved and whn it moved.
This is big money in a small economy such as Zambia. It cannot move without relevant authorities knowing that it has moved, who has moved it, why it has moved and whn it moved.
Iwe ka fake kz , we know of the bak accounts of the real kz in Dubai amd Emirates.
Taunya bushe without mentioning HH?
Why are you so jealousy tu pf?
We are all aware that there are people in Zambia who have unexplained wealth and their wealth go beyond Zambian expectations, our journalists have to dig accurate information about these syndicates in our poor nation, I can sense some people in some settings are having sleepless nights of how they can hide what is unfolding before our ears and eyes.
These are the issues our good citizens must give undivided attention to , money keep on flying above our heads and offices without noticing .
I would advise that people should not use politics to investigate these and similar cases or else everything will just be politics and not yielding results.
These files are being released after lungu suppressed this information in the diluted FIC trends reports…….
A closer look will find mukula and all other corrupt deals linked to lungu and his gang……….
This is lungus mukula money and his other cuts from corruption
This is a national scandal but look at the number of attention it is receiving with very few comments. Surprising but not surprised… Zambians again prioritising trivial issues as opposed to things that actually matter.
All this money could have gone a long way to help this poor country which is being made poor by this level of money laundering and misappropriation. What this says is they are gangsters running this country getting stinking rich at the expense of majority poor who can’t even afford clean water. This should cause outrage and anger! But no.
Zambia has a lot foreign business people who remit profits to their home countries on a reguslar basis.Check destination banks and you will realize that most of these banks are in these countries such Lebanon for lebanes business men, Chines business men, pakistanees and most of these transfers are facilitated by Standard Chartered BAnk especially for Chinese remittances.Money destined for Dubai is menat to facilitate purchase of goods form the Emirates.