FIC challenged to produce evidence

LET the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) produce evidence because as far as we are concerned their findings are just mere suspicion and speculation with no tangible results Patriotic Front Deputy Media Director Antonio Mwanza has reiterated.

Mr Mwanza said the FIC report was misleading and had the potential to discredit the country’s position with investors and the international community.

Speaking on Joy FM Radio yesterday Mr Mwanza said the government was not against the FIC but that the centre should be mindful with the way it handled the report.

Mr Mwanza insisted that the FIC should report its finding to the relevant law enforcement agencies such the Drug Enforcement Commission, Anti-Corruption Commission and the police because the centre was not a law enforcement agency or an investigative wing of the Government.

He said the PF government was democratic and made it possible that all agencies had the autonomy without interference from the President and the Government.

Mr Mwanza said the role of the FIC was to request, receive and to analyse suspicious financial transactions and not to investigate or to enforce the law.

He reiterated that the findings by the FIC were not supposed to be published to the public at a briefing were raw intelligence data was given to the public and consequently alarming perpetrators. He said findings in the report could not be used in the courts as it consisted of raw unsubstantiated data.

Meanwhile, Mr Mwanza says the austerity measures put in place by the government were not permanent but necessary so as to put the country’s economy back on track.

“The PF-led government is going to continue cutting down on unnecessary expenditure which were a cost to the treasury and the economy so that the country can recover. People should bear with the Government because the measures were not being done out of selfish reasons but for all people in the country,” he said.

Mr Mwanza maintained that Zambia under the Patriot Front leadership had seen an unprecedented economic development within a short period of time.

Mr Mwanza explained that PF was the only political party which had live up to the expectation of the people of Zambia when it came to service delivery.

He stated that the PF government had managed to fulfill most of its campaign promises ever since the party came into power.