Slanderous FIC slammed again

THE slander and speculation that the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) is championing is hurtful to innocent citizens because it renders them guilty even before they are tried in the courts, Zambia Jubilee Coalition (ZJC) secretary general Kwaela Mwanza has said.

Mr Mwanza demanded that FIC be reformed for it to be relevant in the fight against financial related crimes.

He said in an interview that the FIC in its current form was irrelevant to the fight against corruption and other financial crimes.

Mr Mwanza said the FIC had continued to operate like a tool for rumours mongering, slander and speculations hence the urgent need to have it reformed.

"As ZJC all we can say is that the FIC should be transformed to make it more relevant to the fight against graft and other financial crimes," Mr Mwanza said. Mr Mwanza said FIC as an Intelligence wing for government was expected to operate secretively and provide intelligence information to investigative wings for further investigations.

"The FIC is supposed to operate secretively and provide their findings to government wings for further investigations and not to publish raw data in the media," Mr Mwanza said.

He said the institution has been operating as an opposition tool to disgrace government officials by publishing unverified financial information.

Mr Mwanza said there waas also need to change leadership at the institution so that people with clear understanding of its mandate were brought in.

"From the way it is operating one can easily tell that those at the helm of the institution do not understand its mandate," Mr Mwanza said.

He said Government should consider engaging civil servants who are politically sober to run the institution not cadres of an opposition political party.