FIC flags US$90 million and K70 million moved through six Zambians' dollar accounts for an Asian national

The Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) has reported suspicious transactions totalling more than US$90 million and K70 million involving a company and six Zambians who allegedly helped an Asian national move money out of the country. The case appears in the Centre's 11th Money Laundering Trends Report. It covers the period from January 2024 to February 2025. The report identifies the foreigner only as "Mr O" and does not name the six Zambians. It says he used their personal US dollar accounts to receive deposits and then moved the money into a company account. From there, the funds were sent to foreign jurisdictions, including in Asia and the Middle East. ## The red flags The FIC points to patterns that made the accounts stand out. All six personal accounts were opened at the same bank in the same month, and each received deposits almost every day. Banks are required to report such activity to the Centre as suspicious transactions. A suspicious transaction report is a warning to investigators. It is not a finding that anyone broke the law, and the report does not say that any of the six has been charged. ## Background The FIC is Zambia's financial intelligence unit. It receives reports from banks and other regulated businesses, analyses them and passes cases to investigators such as the Drug Enforcement Commission, the Anti-Corruption Commission and the police. Its trends reports describe how money laundering happens so that banks and the public can recognise it. Separate reporting on the Centre's findings this week put illicit financial flows at US$1.8 billion, down from US$3.5 billion in the previous period, and described how a shell company was paid K85 million on a government contract. ## Why it matters Most Zambians do not hold US dollar accounts with daily deposits, and the people described in this case did not earn that money in ordinary ways. When large sums leave the country through personal accounts, the dollars leave the banking system that traders