Zimbabwe’s apex bank, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) has ordered all banks to suspend the accounts of four companies on suspicion of money laundering.

This comes after a significant jump in foreign currency exchange rates yesterday from around 13:1 to the United States dollar, to around 22:1.

The four companies include Sakunda Holdings, Croco Motors holdings, Spartan and Access Finance.

RBZ believes that these four companies, which are apparently related, have been involved in an illegal deal of buying foreign currency, which pushed up the foreign currency exchange rates especially on the parallel market.

In terms of the Money Laundering and Proceeds of Crime Act [Chapter 9:24], the RBZ can punish any financial institution(s) found to be complicit in money laundering and/or externalization.

A memo which was sent to all banks by the RBZ’s Financial Intelligence Unit dated September 19, 2019 reads:

“The FIU is carrying out analysis on the above named entities and their sister group companies. As we carry out further analysis, you directed to freeze with immediate effect, all accounts held in the names of the listed entities until further notice.

“You shall not process any withdrawals or transfers from the accounts: you should, however, allow deposits or other flows into the accounts. You shall immediately report to the unit any deposit or other inflow into the account as well as any attempted withdrawals or transfer from the accounts. ”