Zimbabwe’s illegal currency market, money laundering and bribery

Zimbabwean authorities are attempting to crack down on currency trading on the black market, which is believed to be causing the devaluation of the newly introduced local currency, the ZiG. Currency traders, predominantly using the US dollar, have gone underground to evade mass arrests by the police and are now communicating with clients through instant messaging. Zimbabwe has been grappling with a prolonged economic crisis marked by hyperinflation, high unemployment rates, and significant fluctuations in the value of the local currency.

Binance, a cryptocurrency exchange based in the Cayman Islands, was reportedly asked by a member of the Nigerian government to pay $150 million in cryptocurrencies, which was perceived as an attempt at bribery. This incident took place during discussions with Nigerian lawmakers who accused the company of tax violations. A Binance employee who authored the bribery report has been detained in Nigeria and is awaiting trial.

German prosecutors have filed charges against three suspected collaborators of the Italian ‘Ndràngheta mafia for alleged money laundering at an ice cream shop in the German town of Siegen in North Rhine-Westphalia. ‘Ndràngheta intended to invest approximately 400,000 euros in the ice cream shop to launder the mafia’s illegal drug profits and use it as a logistics base. As part of cross-border cooperation and efforts by Italian law enforcement, over 100 individuals have been arrested in Germany, Belgium, France, Italy, Portugal, and Spain.