What is Money Laundering?

In its simplest term, Money Laundering it’s the process of cleaning dirty (illegally obtained) money while trying to hide origin or source is such money. Illegal or criminal activities can include;

• Corruption/bribery,
• Drug trafficking,
• Fraud,
• Tax evasion,
• Counterfeiting and forgery,
• Hijacking; etc.

What are different stages of money laundering?

The process of cleaning the dirt fund/money have been categorized into three main stages of which can include;

1. Placement

Which is the entry point of the illegally obtained fund into financial system. At this stage the launder is trying to offload the heavy load which has been holding after the criminal activity. Different activities are involved here which can also include gambling, loan repayments, broken deposits etc.

2. Layering

Also known as “structuring” which involves creating complex disintegrated channels of transactions in an attempt to separate illicit fund from its source. At this stage launder may perform some electronic money transfer to different locations and divide them into investments. 

3. Integration

At this final stage the fund is returned back to the launder which now appears as if it’s coming from legal sources e.g. economic investments etc.

Why do people launder money?

People normally launder money so as their source of illegal wealth can’t be traced back to the criminal activities which is subjected to criminal case.  

What are the effects of money laundering?

• Economic distortion and instability – due to unfair pricing since most of launders may involve themselves into business but their prices may be unreasonable since their intention is not to make profit but rather to hide their criminal activities which generate fund for them.
• Fuel criminal activities – if there are no controls to prevent money laundering acts, criminal activities will increase in the country.
• Loss of revenue – through tax evasion government is unable to fully collect the appropriate tax hence causing higher tax rate since it’s collected from only small population. 

What is required of me with respect to money laundering?

As citizen/resident or person who is against money laundering activities, it’s my obligation to report any suspicion transaction/activity related to money laundering using the form STR form.xlsx to below contact details

MLRO contact:

Money Laundering Reporting Officer

MIC (T) Limited

Email: aml@tigo.co.tz

Postal Address:

MIC (T) Limited

P.O. Box 2929 New Bagamoyo Rd, Dar es Salaam, 

Tanzania.