International banks and audit firms were used by a company involved in an “aggressive profit shifting” trade-based money laundering (TBML) scheme to understate its taxable income and tax liability due to the Zambian government by over US$700 million according to a new study by Zambia’s Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC).

The purpose of the study, Trade-based Money Laundering In Zambia, is to identify TBML risk indicators and provide a basis for authorities to formulate strategies to combat TBML in Zambia. The study also provides recommendations to enhance Zambia’s capacity to combat TBML.

Produced with assistance from the US treasury department and the Italian financial intelligence unit, the study also looks at how TBML is used as an alternative remittance system that provides transnational criminal organisations the opportunity to earn, move and store proceeds disguised as legitimate trade.

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