FIC says one company received K222 million and US$5.7 million in three months through a network of payment firms

The Financial Intelligence Centre has reported a suspected cross-border money laundering scheme in which a company registered to offer business support services is said to have received more than K222 million and US$5.7 million in three months through a network of payment firms. The findings are in the Centre's 11th Money Laundering Trends Report. The Centre says the suspicious transactions involved companies registered for different kinds of business, among them money transfers, transport support services and soft-drink manufacturing, and that these companies were used to move large sums across borders. One of them, referred to only as Company A, kept accounts at three banks and is said to have received K85 million and US$21 million between June 2024 and August 2025. The Centre opened an inquiry into Company A. The Centre refers to the firms only by letter and does not name the companies or the people behind them. No arrest or charge connected to these findings has been reported. ## Background The Centre publishes a trends report each year from the suspicious transaction reports that banks and other institutions send to it. Its report for 2023 covered 15,696 suspicious transaction reports and 923 intelligence reports worth K13.58 billion passed to law enforcement. After it came out in July 2024, President Hichilema ordered the Anti-Corruption Commission, the Drug Enforcement Commission and other agencies to investigate all the transactions raised. ## Why it matters When firms with unrelated business names move large sums through payment companies, money from crime can enter the banking system and leave the country without paying tax. That affects every Zambian, because taxes pay for hospitals, schools and roads, and money moved out untaxed is money the public does not receive. The case also shows that the Centre can see patterns but depends on police, the Anti-Corruption Commission and the courts to act on them. ## What happens next It is not yet known whether