FIC recovers illicit funds

The Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) has informed some government agencies that $5.4m stolen from the SME Bank had been returned to the country. The Namibian reports that the national agency tasked with investigating financial crimes in Namibia informed several Ministries two years ago about questionable money transferred from the SME Bank to SA. Although it was too late to intervene because most to the funds had been transferred, sources said the FIC stepped in after it was tipped off by a senior government official to check the bank's financials. Details of the FIC findings are sketchy, but the sources said the information forced some government officials to hold back on bailing out the SME Bank which needed funds. The report notes that the centre, which faced allegations of being toothless for allowing ‘dirty money’ to be transferred in and out of the country, has defended itself saying it recovered $7.4m linked to crime over the past year.

Full report in The Namibian