BOZ TO PAY DESTINY DEPOSITORS
……Central bank warns against participating in money circulation schemes
CLOSE to 5,000 depositors under controversial Destiny Helpers International (DHI) will on Thursday start receiving their savings from Bank of Zambia (BoZ).
The payment of claims from the funds held by DHI, which were seized by Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC), is in line with a court order of August last year.
“The public is hereby notified that the Bank of Zambia (BoZ) has completed the process of consolidating claims for investors in Destiny Helpers International. The total amount claim is K17,877,245 from 4,893 claimants,” BoZ assistant director – communications Besnat Mwanza said in a notice published in the print media.
“In line with the court order of 10th August 2022, the BoZ shall commence payment of claims from seized funds held by DHI, amounting to K1,100,952.05 and US$19,037.74. The distribution shall be done in a proportional manner. Therefore, each claimant is expected to be paid approximately 8.2 percent of their investment.”
Ms Mwanza said the DHI claimants will be paid through mobile money based on the contact submitted with the claims.
“The public is hereby reminded that conducting, participating or inviting the public to subscribe to a money circulation scheme is a convictable offence,” she said.
“Further, a person that invests in a money circulation scheme stands to lose all or a significant amount of the investment.”
DEC halted DHI operations in Zambia and froze its bank accounts after complaints by some members that the company was a fraud.
An investigation by MakanDay in May last year revealed that the company had defrauded more than 74,000 Zambians who were lured into a savings group with the promise of receiving grants worth more than 100 percent of membership fees.