International
agencies have been enlisted to support local authorities in tracking down the
money and the assets bought, dismantling cross-border financial crime
syndicates fuelling economic sabotage.
Recently, ZIMRA
officials, Shupikai Mary Nicola Marongwe (52), a database administrator and
Paradzai Mutasa (35), a systems developer, appeared in court on allegations of
manipulation of the organisation’s systems and defrauding it of over US$6.3
million.
The duo is
charged with criminal abuse of office as public officers and alternatively
fraud.
This is one of
the cases that have prompted the investigations.
This project
aims to streamline import or export processes and permit management to enhance
ease of doing business.
The sweeping
operation, which is targeting assets and cash, is being led by the National
Prosecuting Authority of Zimbabwe (NPA) backed by the Zimbabwe Revenue
Authority (ZIMRA), the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP), the Financial
Intelligence Unit (FIU) and the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC).
These
institutions are now working with selected international law enforcement and
financial crime agencies.
The
international partners, whose identities remain confidential for operational
reasons, are said to be assisting with forensic audits, cross-border asset
tracking and intelligence-sharing on transnational networks suspected of
laundering money and evading tax through falsified declarations, shell
companies and digital system manipulation.
Authorities say
the sting is focused on dismantling networks that use fraudulent data to
under-declare taxable transactions, launder profits, and exploit digital
platforms to evade detection.
Officials and
employees within customs, tax and regulatory agencies who are suspected of
collusion are also under investigation.
According to
the NPA, which is leading the prosecutorial arm of the operation, the
involvement of international agencies is critical to following the money trail
across borders and uncovering offshore accounts, hidden property holdings and
foreign-registered vehicles of crime to prove crimes were committed and then to
get the money back to Zimbabwe.
“There is a
permanent inter-agency task team that sits on an ad-hoc basis whenever there is
an important matter that needs a joint investigation or joint attention of all
agencies,” the NPAZ said.
“This scenario
we are currently faced with is one of such cases, which involves international
cooperation and domestic cooperation of various agencies of the State.
“The importance
of this case is that there is massive fraud, racketeering, organised crime and
money laundering.
“All this
sophisticated fraud has got serious, massive prejudice to the economy of this
country and a potential far-reaching effect to the fiscus.”
According to
the NPA, the Prosecutor General has been charged with guiding the
investigations in this joint effort.
“This
investigation involves the Prosecutor General, as the coordinator or the
coordinating agents of this investigation,” it said.
“It then
includes Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission, ZRP’s Commercial Crimes Division
and other subtle agencies like the FIU and Zimra.
“We are going
to have a joint effort. It must involve quick tracing and identification of all
proceeds of crime.
“Then once we
locate all proceeds of crime, we must eventually preserve those assets and the
extent of the prejudice. We are going to preserve that and ultimately
confiscate them.”
The NPA
indicated that the investigations are also targeting individuals and
organisations operating ‘remotely’.
“Whenever there
is a case of racketeering, we are not only targeting those people that we can
see at face value,” it said.
“We are
including everybody, including those who may seem to be remote, but are
directly benefiting from the proceeds of crime.
“Because
mostly, you can see people use companies as a veil to mask their involvement so
that they say we were not there, but at the end of the day, they are the brains
and the mastermind of this criminal syndicate. This is the extent to which we
are going to set an example.”
The NPA
indicated that prosecution will be done in the Anti-Corruption Court, either at
magistrates’ court in respect of some cases, but complex ones will be taken
before the dedicated judges assigned by the High Court of Zimbabwe.
Participation
of foreign investigative bodies allows access to encrypted communications,
offshore banking jurisdictions and global financial intelligence networks,
enhancing the reach and credibility of the operation.
ZACC also
confirmed that a massive joint operation is underway.
“I can confirm
that a joint investigation is underway, but we cannot share any further details
at this stage,” said ZACC corporate communications manager Ms Simiso Mlevu.
“ZACC has the
capacity to investigate financial crimes. The commission also collaborates with
other investigating agencies to augment skills and expertise not readily
available within the institution.” Herald
0 comments:
Post a Comment