Lusaka, Friday 19th January, 2024.
The Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC), through its Anti-Money Laundering Investigations Unit (AMLIU) in Lusaka, arrested a 39-year-old Congolese asylum seeker in Zambia for money laundering offences involving over ZMW 4.2 million.
In a statement today, DEC public relations officer Mwenge Mulenga said particulars of the offence are that the suspect, identified as Kasansa Mpoyi of Lusaka’s Balastone area, while acting together with other persons unknown between 1st January and 26th December 2023, forged a Zambian National Registration Card (NRC) in the name of Daniel Jean Nortier which he fraudulently used to open a bank account with a known bank and used it to receive a total sum of ZMW 4,291,965.96 from a foreign known bank, funds reasonably suspected to be proceeds of crime.
Mulenga said the suspect managed to withdraw ZMW1,650,000 of the deposited funds in cash over the counter, leaving a balance of ZMW2,641,715.59, which the Commission seized as proceeds of crime. In an interesting turn of events, the suspect presented himself to the officers of the Drug Enforcement Commission at AMLIU as Daniel Jean Nortier and attempted to have his seized money cleared for his access.
The DEC public relations officer stated that the Commission has since charged Mr Mpoyi with various money laundering-related offences, including forgery, uttering false documents, possessing property suspected to be proceeds of crime, and willfully or recklessly giving false or misleading information to an authorized officer.
Mulenga said the suspect will be appearing in court soon.
In light of the increasing prevalence of advanced fraudulent activities, Mulenga said DEC encourages the public to remain vigilant and promptly report any suspected fraudulent activities to the relevant authorities.
I completely agree with your points. Well said!
This is a topic I’ve been curious about. Thanks for the detailed information.