HARARE – 14 suspected illegal foreign currency dealers who initially appeared in court on Monday on allegations of money laundering have been denied bail.
The accused included Access Finance Managing Director Raymond Sigogwana, Dream High Investments Director Tinashe Magada, 33, Titanium Capital Pvt Ltd director Director Tatenda Musonza, 42, Juso Global Private Ltd CEO Justice Muhuni, and others. They are charged with contravening the Exchange Control Regulations Statutory Instrument of the Exchange Control Act.
It is alleged that one of the accused Tataenda Patrick Musonza of Titanium Capital Private Limited who appeared before Harare regional magistrate Vongai Guwuriro has over 429 agents who were distributing $210 475 688 illegally on his behalf across the country.
Tinashe Paradise Magada of Dream High Investments is also accused of illegally dealing and distributing $143 669 348.
It is further alleged that Magada distributed the money through his EcoCash bulk payer line to various Ecocash lines and purchased United States dollars on the parallel market.
The Court also heard that Singathini Raymons Chigogwana of Access Finance who appeared before Harare magistrate Ngoni Nduna and his accomplice Isau Bwerinofa who is still at large hatched a plan to buy foreign currency.
The State further alleges that the two distributed $185 420 444 into various EcoCash numbers and unlawfully bought US dollars on the black market.
iHarare had reported that the Reserve bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) in conjunction with the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) had named and shamed 30 illegal money dealers who were abusing mobile telecommunication services and other social media platforms to promote and facilitate illegal foreign exchange transactions and money laundering activities.
In a press statement, RBZ issued measures against the illegal money dealers.
The FIU has since instructed banks to freeze any accounts that were being used by the accused individuals. The named individuals have with immediate effect been banned from accessing any financial services for 2 years.
FIU has also engaged with POTRAZ to block the 30 illegal money dealers from operating their mobile lines.
Source: iHarare
