The Financial Intelligence Centre recently reported a mass money laundering scheme across Zambia. This bust has been regarded as one of the most sensations across the nation, due to the involvement of high-level officers from the government as well as top lawyers from the nation. This money laundering scheme took place with the help of illegal and unaccounted cash transactions from the individual and corporate bank accounts of suspected lawyers. As per the reports, the amount of money transferred across these bank accounts is more than USD 1.5 billion.

Some of the top names presented in the list provided by FIC involved Masozi M. Banda and Sakwiba Sikota. However, the majority of the lawyers have defended themselves by saying that they are mere conduits for the money to Edgar Lungu as an incentive for winning government contracts such as road construction. However, the FIC has investigated in details and failed to see any contracts achieved by these lawyers. Edgar Lungu is notoriously known as the Dictator of Zambia. Meanwhile, several top law firms and agencies have been identified to be linked with the USD 1.5 billion illicit monetary transactions, as prepared by the sources at Financial Intelligence Centre.

Top law firms such as Makebi Zulu Associates, Central Chambers, Shamwana & Company etc are caught in this money laundering scheme. The surprising fact is that many of these law firms are indirectly associated with ministers and government officials sitting at critical and power positions. It has been also observed that majority of these accounts owned by lawyers were extremely active during unethical and illegal activities like fraudulent elections held last year, during Presidential Petition and during Rupiah Banda’s trial over Nigerian Oil dealings.

This money laundering bust has certainly left the citizens and industrialists with the question whether the government is able to act properly at all. Top industrialists like Dr. Rajan Mahtani have heavily condemned on this act and have demanded strict action for the accused and offenders.