Zimbabwe security agents have seized more than Z$10-trillion in old banknotes at the country’s main airport in a drive against money laundering, state media reported on Wednesday.
The official Herald newspaper said the agents intercepted the money at Harare International airport on Tuesday as it was being smuggled back into the country to beat an August 21 deadline.
Police say money laundering investigations have been launched against more than 3 000 firms and individuals since the beginning of last week.
Zimbabweans have until August 21 to dispose of old banknotes for redenominated Zimbabwe dollars after a 60% devaluation last week.
Central bank Governor Gideon Gono knocked three zeros off all banknotes to help consumers cope with hyperinflation of nearly 1 200% and announced that the old currency would be phased out in three weeks.
”The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) … seized more than Z$10-trillion ($40-million) … belonging to three local financial institutions at the Harare International airport as the ongoing clampdown on money launderers intensifies,” the Herald said, adding the central bank had confirmed the seizure.
”The money was stashed in huge boxes when it was intercepted … by security agents,” an unnamed source told the paper.
Central bank officials could not be reached for comment on Tuesday but this would be the biggest seizure since the clampdown started last week.
Suspected arson
State media reported at the weekend that huge fires had damaged the central bank governor’s farm in a suspected case of arson after an unidentified armed gang ”caused commotion”.
”The incidents follow reports that there are people in positions of authority who were trying to intimidate the [central bank] boss into abandoning the turnaround programme,” the state Sunday Mail newspaper reported.
During the transition to new notes, individuals are barred from depositing old notes in banks in excess of Z$100-million unless they can show that they have acquired the funds legitimately.
This requirement has left many holding large sums of cash, which they are rushing to convert into assets.
Gono says trillions of Zimbabwe dollars were stashed in homes and outside the country to facilitate black-market deals. Border patrols have intercepted billions worth of old banknotes from black-market traders trying to enter the country before the deadline.
Analysts have hailed the anti-money laundering drive but warn that corruption by top business and government officials could undo Gono’s efforts as seen by large amounts of new banknotes already trading in neighbouring Zambia and Mozambique.
President Robert Mugabe’s government has branded inflation as the country’s number one enemy but says rampant graft threatens to derail efforts to reverse an eight-year recession widely blamed on state mismanagement.
The veteran leader, who has ruled the country since independence from Britain in 1980, denies responsibility for the economic rot and in turn accuses Western opponents of sabotaging the country as punishment for his seizures of white-owned farms for blacks. — Reuters