adminProsper Dembedza Court Correspondent
A 24-year-old Chitungwiza man yesterday appeared in court on allegations of money laundering involving unknown funds deposited into a Visa card account and then withdrawn from an ATM in Ivory Coast.
Malvin Kudakwashe Serima was facing money laundering charges when he appeared before Harare magistrate Mrs Yeukai Chigodora. The State opposed bail and the matter was rolled over to today for bail ruling.
The court heard that Serima, acting with Talent Kamupupu and Paminous Mutengwa who are still at large, went to BancABC’s Heritage branch near the corner of Samora Machel Avenue and First Street Mall in Harare and opened two Visa prepaid card accounts.
It is alleged that he was issued with the Visa debit cards linked to the two accounts and then gave the cards to Kamupupu and Mutengwa, together with their PIN numbers.
On October 23, the two Visa accounts were funded with US$120 000 (US$10 000 into the first visa card and US$110 000 into the second visa card), with this funding allegedly fraudulent. The source of the funds is unknown.
It is the State’s case that on that same day the two Visa cards were used in Ivory Coast where US$8 395,99 was withdrawn from the first card whilst US$9 529,42 was withdrawn from the second card. Both transactions were ATM cash withdrawals, a trend synonymous with money laundering.
It is alleged that the transaction was discovered on October 25 when BancABC’s risk department established that the two cards were among the list of Visa cards that had been flagged by Visa International for suspicious transactions.
The value involved is US$120 000 and US$102 074,59 is held by Visa International through the suspension of the accounts.
Online Reporter