In a statement yesterday, Finance minister Mthuli Ncube
said government would introduce a raft of measures to intensify its clampdown
on money-laundering and other financial crimes by naming and shaming offenders.
He said the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) was
conducting impromptu audits of corporates to quantify potential tax liabilities
from illegal foreign currency deals.
“Government, through various agencies, is presently seized
with instituting various measures to curb illegal trade in foreign currency and
its associated twin evil, that of parallel market benchmarking or indexation of
process of goods and services at parallel market exchange rates,” Ncube said.
“The recent resurgence of these practices, which have been
identified as significant contributors to price instability in the economy and
are imposing significant downside risk to macro-economic stability and the
erosion of domestic and international competitiveness, is, therefore, a cause
for serious concern.”
In May this year, government promulgated Statutory
Instrument (SI) 127 of 2021, banning computation of prices using parallel
market rates, stipulating penalties of up to $50 million against offenders.
The SI also introduced fines for businesses that access
foreign currency on the RBZ forex auction flow, and yet dabble in parallel
market activities. Banks could be punished for failing to disclose delinquency
among their customers.
Last week, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) named and
shamed 30 individuals alleged to be abusing mobile phone services and social
media to facilitate forex transactions.
Another 47 offenders were added to the list this week.
Several company managers have also appeared in court on
allegations of abusing foreign currency.
Ncube said Zimra would probe to see if companies were
complying with the location tax introduced during the 2021 fiscal year, while
regulatory bodies would work on a framework to impose appropriate financial and
professional sanctions on members of the accounting fraternity implicated in
illegal dealings.
Yesterday, the central bank reacted to social media claims
that Simbisa Brands was manipulating the official foreign currency exchange
rate, adding investigations were underway.
The RBZ official exchange rate yesterday stood at
US$1:$88,55, but on Monday, there was discontent among the public following
revelations that Simbisa Brands was using a US$1:$200 exchange rate.
Another social media leak yesterday revealed police conducted public auctions of their vehicles nationwide using unofficial rates of US$1:$166. Bidders were asked to pay $500 000 or US$3 000 for vehicles sold at JEFFM Auction by the police.
Economist Christopher Mugaga said if the US dollar foreign
exchange rate surpassed US$1:$200; it would cause the local currency to be
rejected at shops.
Mugaga urged the central bank to put in place favourable
policies to contain the situation.
He said investigations on individual companies were
ineffective, adding that companies were commodifying the cash they get from the
auction rate.
“We need an auction floor which respects the market forces
and not specified companies. By allocating foreign currency to selected
companies, RBZ is specifying demand and supply of goods and services when there
are many companies that operate in the same industries,” Mugaga said. Newsday
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