Financial crime investigations training needed to curb corruption, IFFs

SHANNISE DZOBO

MASVINGO CITY- Independent organisations in Zimbabwe have called for tax and law enforcement authorities to intensify financial investigation training to curb corruption, one of the enablers of Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs).

Illicit financial flows are illegal movements of money or capital from one country to another, according to the think tank Global Financial Integrity.

The plea comes after the Al-Jazeera two-part investigation documentary aired in March, titled ‘Gold Mafia’ exposed how dirty money can easily be moved from one country to the other through IFFs.

The Zimbabwe Coalition on Debt and Development (ZIMCODD) executive director, Janet Zhou in an interview told The Midweek Watch that the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) alluded to the fact that the dockets that they receive from ZACC are half-baked.

“The prosecution is taking long because NPA has raised a lot of issues of why they are taking long to prosecute and they alluded that the dockets they get from ZACC are not quality dockets which cannot be used for prosecution and that is a major challenge around the coordination between ZACC and NPA in terms of the standard of dockets, evidence and investigations that are being done,” said Zhou.

Zhou went on to say that there is a need to capacitate ZACC to investigate better and produce quality dockets in order to clear the backlog.

In a statement, the NPA said they are seized with a number of high profile cases and they treat them with due diligence.

“We have 56 high-profile cases that are at various stages of prosecution, and these are all from different investigation authorities and we have specifically received 30 cases from the Commercial Crimes Division (CID) involving violations of the Exchange Control Act, 9 have been completed and 21 are at various stages of prosecution,” read the statement.

In a newspaper article published in February 2020, ZACC spokesperson, Commissioner Thandiwe Mlobane revealed that in 2019 alone, Zimbabwe lost at least US$3 billion through IFFs.

Mlobane told The Midweek Watch that ZACC had arrested and referred to the NPA about 400 cases in respect of both private and public officials and the most prevalent charges against them involve corruption in procurement, sale of land, mining licenses, favoritism in allocation of land and recruitment among others.

“ZACC has arrested and referred to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) about 400 cases in respect of both private and public officials and 41 convictions have been done from July 2019 to April 2023,” said Mlobane.

“Some of the cases investigated by ZACC have been delayed in the system due to a variety of reasons and the delays we are encountering in setting down cases at court will be reduced under the court reforms currently underway by the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) and with the implemented reforms corruption cases will be concluded within record time”.

She went on to mention that for cases that have gone for trial, the accused were convicted, and their sentences range from 2 to 3 years in prison, and their assets have been forfeited to the State through the Asset Forfeiture Recovery Unit.

According to a 2019 University of the Western Cape research paper, titled, A Critical Evaluation of the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission, the country over the years, has experienced a surge in the level of corruption and a rapidly declining economy.

Zimbabwe, the study states, has taken measures to try and curb corruption through the establishment of ZACC whose primary function is to combat corruption in the private and public sectors. However, critics have argued that the largest drawback in the fight against corruption in Zimbabwe is the lack of political will on the part of the ruling elite.

The ZACC’s need for political support is exacerbated by its lack of complete independence. Being subsumed under the Office of the President can be viewed as a hindrance to independence, which may cause a lack of objectivity in investigating its parent ministry when the need arises, the paper further revealed.

Efforts by the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) to ascertain the source of wealth sustaining lavish lifestyles of the elite through a lifestyle audit have also turned out to be futile with critics arguing that the tax collector was not casting their net wider to catch the corrupt in the country according to this 2015 Herald article https://www.herald.co.zw/tax-evaders-out-flanking-zimra/

According to a Partnership for African Social and Governance Research 2018 report, most of the stolen money through corruption ends up leaving the country as the culprits fear being traced, discovered and/or having the stolen money either shared with other corrupt officials or recovered.

Tongai Mutindi of Mutindi, Bumhira Legal Practitioners, however also emphasized on the issue of incapacitation when it comes to the investigation authorities hence the delay in prosecuting and convicting the accused persons.

“White-collar crimes take a lot to be investigated because they need computers, transport and experts who know and are fully equipped in the white-collar investigations. The incapacitation of our police, ZACC and other investigating authorities makes it difficult for the NPA to prosecute the accused persons because the dockets they receive from the investigators are weak and not up to standard,” said Mutindi.

The lack of coordination between the two entities in terms of standard of dockets, lack of evidence and investigations have left many criminals involved in IFFs escaping the long arm of the law.

“This story was produced by [The Midweek Watch). It was written as part of Wealth of Nations, a media skills development programme run by the Thomson Reuters Foundation. More information at www.wealth-of-nations.org. The content is the sole responsibility of the author and the publisher.”