The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe will start to freeze bank accounts, forfeit assets and cancel licenses of people who are according to the deputy finance minister involved in money laundering and illegal foreign currency trading, the Daily News reports.
This was revealed by the Deputy Finance Minister, Clemence Chidawo in an interview with the Daily News. Mr Chidawo said:
The movement of funds is mainly happening through mobile money platforms, Zipit and RTGS.
Through these platforms, the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) is able to see who is doing what.Banks should apply the know-your-customer rule so that we don’t sanitise proceeds of money laundering and illegal currency trading. Stern measures are being taken against institutions and individuals involved in these activities.
This will involve the freezing of accounts, asset forfeiture and the cancellation of licenses, among other remedies. So, as long as banking platforms are being abused for currency manipulation and illegal activities, we are in a position to bring all culprits to book.
On Friday last week, the RBZ reportedly froze an account belonging to a Chinese company for injecting money into the black market. The Zimbabwe Dollar continues to weaken against the USD every week as it closed the week trading at 25 against the USD.
More: Daily News