Tendai Ziso

The Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) an RBZ department which deals with money related issues has ordered banks to freeze Bank accounts linked to 123 Ecocash and One money Agent Accounts that are suspected to be involved in illicit Foreign Currency Transactions and Money Laundering.

State of the Nation is in possession of a leaked statement where the FIU directed banks to immediately freeze the accounts of persons on a list that is attached bellow.

Part of the statement reads:

“You are directed to identify all accounts of the listed persons/entities that are linked either to Ecocash of One Money i.e. accounts that allow the customer to move funds between the bank account and the mobile money wallet, and/or vice versa) and to immediately freeze such accounts.”

“You are also required to submit by close of business on 3 May 2020, KYC information in respect of each customer, including details of the accounts identified and frozen including balances, business address of the entity, names of all directors, name and contact details of the MD/CEO, list of the shareholders, list of the Ultimate Beneficial Owners and the entity’s nature of business and source of funds. It is critical that the freezing be effected immediately as any delay can result in funds being moved from the accounts before freezing is effected”.

Of the 123 accounts, 97 where linked to Ecocash Agent Accounts while 26 were linked to One Money. Efforts to get a comment from the FIU Acting Director General Mr Oliver Chiperesa to confirm this development were fruitless as his mobile phone was unavailable by the time of publishing. Bellow is the list of the frozen accounts: