ECOCASH chief exective officer Natalie Jabangwe and Eddie Chibi, the company’s director have been charged with money laundering by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ)’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) after the mobile money transfer company failed to report to the central bank about its financial inflows.
This comes after the FIU wrote a letter to Steward Bank which manages Ecocash to add more restrictions on its mobile money transfer platform to curb the influx of illegal forex deals on the parallel market.
The FIU, in its letter, directed the chief executive officer of Steward Bank Mr Courage Mashavave, Stewart bank to manage Ecocash inflows and give a daily report of the financial inflows.
However, Jabangwe and Chibi failed to give the reports to the central bank prompting the FIU to wite another letter today charging the duo with money laundering after failing to comply with the RBZ’s orders.
“We write to advice you of the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU)’s intention to penalize Ecocash (Private) Limited, Natalie Jabangwe Ecocash chief executive officer and Eddie Chibi Ecocash director, in terms of Section 5 of the Money Laundering and Proceeds of Crime Act [Chapter 9: 24] (the act), for failure to comply with obligations imposed on financial institutions and their officers, employees, directors and agents.
“Ecocash’s failure to carry out its obligation in terms of the act is directly attributable to the incompetence, ineptitude and unprofessionalism in the execution of duty by its management and directors, more particularly Natalie Jabangwe, the chief executive officer and Eddie Chibi, a director who plays a prominent role in the day to day operations of Ecocash, Natalie Jabangwe and Eddie Chibiare therefore herein charged in their individual capacities, jointly and severally with Ecocash on all charges,” reads the letter.
RBZ had ordered Steward Bank to provide the FIU with daily returns of all funds deposited into the MMT account.
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Read: RBZ Directs Steward Bank To Add More Restrictions To Ecocash