Some businesses in the construction sector made large unusual cash deposits last year amounting to a combined total of K110 million, the latest Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) report reveals.

According to the FIC 2017 Money Laundering/Terrorist Financing Trends Report, businesses in the construction sector made large unusual cash deposits last year amounting to a combined total of K110 million.

“During the year, it was observed that some businesses in the construction sector made large cash deposits. This is unusual considering that payment for services provided in this sector are made either by cheque or other safer electronic means instead of cash. It was noted that a total of US $9,668,421.14 and K14,150,918.70 cash deposits were made by construction businesses,” the FIC disclosed in the report released last Thursday.

The report added that dubious cash withdrawals were also made by some construction companies of a combined total of around K426 million.

“In 2017, a total of US $3,430,852.81 and K391,553,520.20 cash withdrawals were reported to the Centre,” it added.

The report also revealed that some construction companies in the country were awarded contracts by government last year, despite not being tax compliant, nor having sufficient capacity to execute the works.

“It was further observed that a number of construction companies awarded contracts by some quasi-government institutions had no capacity to execute the works, while others were not tax compliant,” stated the FIC.

The FIC report unearthed record-breaking losses Zambia incurred last year through financial crimes such as corruption and tax evasion, among others, amounting to a staggering K4.5 billion.