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Sunday, February 9, 2025
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Former FIC Employee Sentenced to Three Years for Theft and Fraudulent Activities

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A Lusaka Magistrate has sentenced a former Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) employee to three years of imprisonment with hard labor for theft and fraudulent false accounting involving over K100,000.

Eric Ndhlovu, who worked as a stores clerk at the FIC, was convicted on multiple charges, including forgery, theft by a public servant and money laundering.

Magistrate Trevor Kasanda handed down the judgment, stating that the evidence presented proved the charges beyond a reasonable doubt.

Ndhlovu received 24 months of imprisonment with hard labor for theft by a public servant and was fined K25,000 for money laundering, payable within a week or facing a default sentence of 12 months of imprisonment.

For fraudulent false accounting, he was sentenced to three years of imprisonment with hard labor, effective immediately.

The court also ruled that the state is at liberty to recover the stolen K108,000, declaring that the funds, derived from criminal activity, qualify as proceeds of crime. The sentences are to run concurrently.

The court heard that Ndhlovu forged payment instructions for staff allowances at FIC and presented these falsified documents to banks for payment.

Multiple transactions linked to the stolen funds were traced to his account. The money was used to purchase a Toyota Mark II, which was presented in court as evidence.

Magistrate Kasanda noted that although there was no direct eyewitness to the forgery, bank statements and witness testimonies linked Ndhlovu to the fraudulent activities. He stated that the accused knowingly abused his position to siphon funds for personal use.

Through his lawyer, Ndhlovu pleaded for leniency, citing his status as a first offender, a father to a one-year-old child, and the primary caregiver for his blind brother.

The court acknowledged his remorse but upheld a substantial sentence to reflect the severity of the offenses.

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