MONEY LAUNDERERS ‘INVADE’ REAL ESTATE SECTOR – FIC
By Darius Choonya
Criminals are reportedly hiding laundered money in the real estate sector.
According to the Financial Intelligence Centre, FIC Director of Compliance and Prevention, Dephat Tembo, says criminals know that financial institutions cannot raise any flag against them in this sector.
Speaking during a media awareness workshop, Mr. Tembo says his institution has observed that people are using huge sums of cash money to buy properties.
Arising from that, Mr. Tembo has warned those in real estate to be wary of such individuals and report any suspicious financial transaction.
Go to Knight Frank, Pam Golding, and several other high profile Estate Agents and you will find the money. Zambian properties are overpriced on paper because someone wants to launder money. The ones with foreign ownership, like KF and PG are the most likely to be used for money laundering because you can pay into their foreign accounts. Some properties are in proxy names. The agents must be held accountable for being conduits for money laundering.