Money laundering Bill hearings set for next week

THE Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Finance and Economic Development will next week hold public hearings on the Money Laundering and Proceeds of Crime (Amendment) Bill.

The Bill is meant to curb money laundering and plug mineral leakages in the country.

In a statement, Parliament said the hearings would be held from May 27 to 1 June 2018.

In Bulawayo hearings will be held next Tuesday at a city hotel.

The team will begin the hearing next Monday at Victoria Falls’ Chinotimba Hall and proceed to Bulawayo the next day before going to Masvingo on Wednesday.

On Thursday, the committee will conduct hearings at a hotel in Mutare and finish off with Harare on Friday.

“The Portfolio Committee on Finance and Economic Development will be holding public hearings on the Money Laundering and Proceeds of Crime Amendment Bill. The public, interested groups and organisations are invited to these consultations,” said Parliament.

Recently, Government said it was fast tracking the finalisation of the Bill by urgently addressing its short comings as pointed out by the Eastern and Southern Africa Anti-Money Laundering Group (ESAAMLG) through a peer review procedure.

Zimbabwe is a founding member of the ESAAMLG, an 18-member regional body dedicated to fighting cross border illicit flow of funds, terrorism financing and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. The peer review body identified areas where the country’s laws and institutional arrangement needed to be urgently adjusted to comply with the 40 financial action task force recommendations.

The Bill is expected to empower the nation to deal with money laundering by strengthening the financial intelligence unit of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe by giving it autonomy to effectively combat the vice.

Promulgation of the proposed law is consistent with Government under President Mnangagwa’s thrust to ensure zero tolerance for corruption, as it moves to quickly turn around fortunes of the economy.—@ PrinceNkosy102