The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has said that alleged money laundering activities by Ecobank warranted severe punishment both to the bank and client who withdrew money from the bank.
This comes after a picture of showing huge sums of new notes has circulated on social media suggesting that banks were injecting cash into the black market prompting the central bank to conduct investigations which fingered Ecobank in money laundering.
In a statement after the probe which revealed that one Ecobank customer withdrew ZW$15 000, the RBZ said:
Appropriate disciplinary measures shall be taken against the bank and the customer and anyone else found responsible for such malpractices which bring the RBZ and the entire banking system into disrepute.
Such malpractices cannot and should not be condoned.
The availability of huge sums of cash on the parallel market when banks are issuing limited amounts of cash has triggered public outrage with some suggesting that political elites and prominent business people were the ones injecting cash into the parallel market.
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