By 
Zambia has lost more than US$3.5 billion in the past year through illicit financial flows (IFFs), largely driven by commercial activities involving multinational enterprises, according to the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC).
The findings are contained in the FIC’s 10th Trends Report for the 2024–2025 period, alongside its Second National Risk Assessment Report, which also highlights a sharp rise in tax evasion estimated at K28.9 billion over the same period.
The report indicates that the majority of illicit flows were linked to money laundering activities, including the use of cash-based transactions to obscure audit trails, the use of shell companies, and the concealment of beneficial ownership of corporate entities.
It further notes that key destinations for the illicit funds were Asia, the Middle East, and South America.
Read more: Hichilema orders immediate probe of K13.58 billion suspicious transactions contained in FIC report
According to the FIC, 1,203 subjects were identified in connection with illicit financial transfers, comprising 401 corporates and 802 natural persons.
The Centre observed that many of the corporate entities involved were recently incorporated and showed little or no genuine commercial activity despite handling large transaction volumes.
The report also found that most of the natural persons implicated were foreign nationals who either transacted on their own accounts or used Zambians as intermediaries.
These local facilitators were often business partners, employees, or agents paid commissions to process transactions.
“Most of the corporates identified were recently incorporated and did not appear to have any commercial activity to warrant the volume of transactions on their accounts,” the report stated.
It adds that illicit mining activities have also emerged as a growing concern, particularly in North Western, Copperbelt, Luapula, and Muchinga provinces, with minerals such as copper, gold, and precious stones being illegally traded.
Other emerging trends highlighted include cyber-enabled financial crimes, environmental crimes such as illegal wildlife trade, and corruption within the public sector.
During the review period, the FIC disseminated 872 financial intelligence reports relating to suspected illicit financial flows, most of which involved commercial transactions characterised by unusual or complex activity, suspicious customer behaviour, and transactions inconsistent with customer profiles.
The Centre warned that illicit financial flows continued to pose a significant threat to Zambia’s economic stability and revenue base,and called for strengthened enforcement measures and enhanced cooperation among regulatory and law enforcement agencies.
WARNING! All rights reserved. This material, and other digital content on this website, may not be reproduced, published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in whole or in part without prior express permission from ZAMBIA MONITOR.
Comments