GOVERNMENT has begun crafting a law to provide a legal
standing to probe and seize wealth from individuals suspected to have
clandestinely accumulated riches.
Last year, President Emmerson Mnangagwa gazetted the
Presidential Powers (Temporary Measures) (Amendment of the Money Laundering and
Proceeds of Crime Act and Exchange Control Act) Regulations which empowers
Government to seize unexplained wealth.
The development later saw Finance and Economic Development
Minister Prof Mthuli Ncube incorporate the measures in his 2019 budget, before
legislators sought the matter be treated differently since it was not a finance
issue.
The Sunday Mail has established that a Bill is now being
developed to deal with ‘unexplained wealth’ and is expected to be introduced in
Parliament soon.
In an interview recently, Justice, Legal and Parliamentary
Affairs Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi said legal experts were working on the piece
of legislation to be brought before the august House within the next two
months.
“When you invoke Presidential Powers Temporary Measures,
they last for six months. The Bill has to be brought to Parliament within six
months. By March or early April the legislation should be in place,” he said.
“We removed the section on Presidential Powers Temporary
Measures Act on unexplained wealth (from the Finance Bill) because it’s not a
finance matter per se, it would complicate issues… For the sake of progress, we
just had to draft a separate Bill,”
Minister Ziyambi said the Finance and Economic Development
Ministry would over-see the crafting of the legislation.
He said the legislation would incorporate a number of
issues other than those that were initially targeted.
The minister said when The President promulgated Statutory
Instrument 246 on the unexplained wealth, Government wanted to curb issues of
suspicious money transfers.
“We were saying that if you get $100 000 deposited in your
account and you are known to earn, for instance, $500 then that is a suspicious
transaction,” said Minister Ziyambi.
“If the bank is satisfied then that is okay. If the bank is
not satisfied with your explanation they are obliged to report it to the police
for further investigations.
“The mischief that we wanted to cure was that of people
having huge transfers when they are not known to be in any productive sector
and that was the conduit of these illegal foreign currency dealings.”
The new legislation will authorise the High Court to issue
an unexplained wealth order on properties of individuals.
The country has witnessed a surge in individuals who
accumulate wealth overnight amid concern over high corruption activities.
Sunday Mail
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