Reason Razao
The Ministry of Finance and Economic development has scaled up the fight against money laundering, terrorism and proliferation financing through the acquisition of computer equipment and associated software in efforts, which will assist the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) and the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) in their fight against commercial crimes.
The computer equipment and associated software were handed over to the ZRP and the FIU by Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube, under the ministry’s capacity building budget for Anti-Money Laundering, Combating the Financing of terrorism and Proliferation Financing (AML/CFT/PF).
Ncube said the equipment will go a long way in enhancing communication between the commercial division of the ZRP and the FIU.
“I am advised that while the police are expected to timeously share information with the FIU through the goAML platform, this has been hampered by lack of computers and associated accessories,” said Ncube.
He added that deployment of resources towards AML/CFT activities will also help in plugging leakages in various sectors of the economy thereby strengthening the integrity and security of the financial sector.
Ncube said his ministry, under the Recommendations of the Financial Action Taskforce, is mandated to capacitate law enforcement agencies with adequate resources including financial investigation tools to manage their work and address money laundering risks adequately.
“As you are aware, Zimbabwe is currently implementing an action plan under ICRG’s enhanced monitoring system, and capacity building is on of the areas that we need to address under the action plan.”
Ncube said his ministry will continue to support ZRP, FIU and all agencies involved in the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing.
The 2021 national budget also allocated ZWL $33 million toward capacity building initiatives for all institutions involved in AML/CFT.
Ncube said the utilisation of these funds will be coordinated through the capacity building sub-committee of the national taskforce on AML/CFT.
