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Kitwe. 08.06.2018.
It is clear that the Financial Intelligence Centre FIC is now under siege from criminal elements.
Criminals want the agency to be disbanded at every opportunity.
What is more worrying is that Government seems to have colluded with criminals in discrediting the FIC.
Government has waged war on the FIC using rogue state sponsored NGOs and lawyers.
Criminals are also hatching plans to silence the FIC through coordinated innuendos.
We advise Government not to entertain calls to disband the FIC.
The FIC is an important oversight institution.
The agency is there to promote checks and balances.
The institution is also critical in fighting and exposing graft.
The FIC has so far done a commendable job in exposing financial crimes.
Disbanding the FIC will turn Zambia into a haven for terrorist’s.
If not careful, terrorists will soon start using Zambia as a transit point to dilute their dirty money.
As NDC, we feel there is urgent need to amend the FIC Act.
The FIC should be given prosecutorial powers.
We further propose that the capacity of the FIC should be enhanced.
Government should consider increasing funding and recruiting more officers to be deployed at the agency.
Unlike other politically polarized investigative wings, the FIC has stood firm in exposing financial crimes.
We laud the men and women at the FIC for being board and putting National interest first.
Officers at the FIC are risking their lives and working under extremely difficult conditions.
We feel there is nothing wrong that the FIC did in releasing the much talked about 2017 report.
The FIC did not breach any internal communication line by releasing its findings to the public.
Attorney General Likando Kalaluka was present when the 2017 FIC report was made public.
The learned counsel should have advised the FIC board of any breach of procedure if indeed the passed the red line.
As NDC, we challenge President Edgar Lungu to comment on findings in the latest FIC report.
We feel President lungu is hesitant to comment on the report because his Ministers are cited in the dossier.
Suspiciously, President lungu has never commented on the findings of the FIC.
The hesitancy by the Head of State not to comment on the FIC negates the whole anti corruption crusade.
In the first quarter of 2017, the FIC revealed on how One billion U.S dollars was dubiously siphoned and banked into the accounts of top Government officials.
Cabinet Ministers in Mr. Lungu’s regime are at the centre of the suspicious 1 billion u.s dollars illicit financial inflows.
Why has Mr. Lungu failed to discipline Government officials cited in the FIC?
As NDC, we further challenge the DEC and ACC to be more proactive and act on the FIC report.
Further, we want the two investigative wings to update the nation on what they have done to prosecute and investigate those implicated in the FIC report.
Fighting the FIC in public by Government is counter productive.
The citizens of this country have the right to have access to public information.
The disclosure of illicit financial dealings by the FIC should therefore not be misconstrued.
The FIC is not fighting political battles.
Those who are condemning the FIC are doing so because they are jittery with their illicit activities.
Issued by: Mwenya Musenge. Secretary General NDC.
