The National Democratic Congress says closing the Financial Intelligence Centre will not erase evidence of corruption involving Patriotic Front officials.

In a statement yesterday, Musenge condemned government for withholding December, 2017 salaries for FIC employees.

“It is sad that staff at the FIC are now being threatened with death and dismissals. As NDC, we want to warn Lungu and his cronies that closing the FIC will not abet their criminality, the NDC in government will engage the international police, Interpol, to bring all these elements to book. The mandate of the FIC is clear and it is nauseating that Lungu and his cohorts want the FIC shut. The question is why shut down the FIC? Attempts by Lungu and his cronies that have teamed up to victimise and intimidate staff at the FIC through withholding of their salaries and funding should be condemned by all,” Musenge stated.

“We are also aware that Lungu is using well know criminal elements and litigation to shut down FIC and silence its CEO Mary Tshuma. If anything happens to madame Tshuma, blood is on the hands of the PF regime. We therefore take this opportunity to appeal to the international community to condemn attempts to close FIC.”

Musenge noted that the only crime FIC had committed was to publicly disclose dubious cash transactions involving over $1 billion by government officials.

“We are aware that attempts by the desperate PF regime to shut down the FIC have intensified. We are not surprised therefore that staff at the FIC have not been paid their December, 2017 salaries because we know that the Ministry of Finance was instructed to deliberately omit the FIC from receiving its institutional expenditure for 2018. We are also aware of attempts by criminal elements who have gunned up to hound out Mary Tshuma, the FIC chief executive officer from her position. The only crime Ms Tshuma has committed is purely the public disclosure over thirty five thousand dubious cash transactions involving over $1 billion that the FIC has uncovered. The FIC has information that the $1billion was suspiciously banked into corporate and individual accounts of criminals linked to the PF,” he stated.

He stated that he was aware of senior cabinet ministers who were linked to the illicit financial flows.

“As NDC we know that a number of government officials including the first family are involved in these illicit financial activities. As NDC we are against the closure of the FIC, an important oversight wing that is mandated to ensure that all money laundering activities are brought to book. We also know that…senior cabinet ministers and Lungu’s criminal elements and associates are also part of the team that have been traced by the FIC as individuals who have received part of the $1 billion that the FIC has promulgated in its 2017 end of year report,” stated Musenge.