SERIES: The #Laundry
Money laundering is the organised crime enabling all other organised crime, though it sometimes occupies a legal grey zone. AmaBhungane has embarked on a major series to pierce the secrecy and obfuscation that are central to the enterprise.
The #Laundry: the ‘shadow bankers’ powering organised crime
8 October, 2024
Consider this dilemma: it is Covid lockdown and cigarette sales are banned; you manage to sneak huge volumes of cigarettes into the country nonetheless, or perhaps you keep manufacturing them here and pinkie-swear they are meant for export.
The #Laundry: City of Gold, part one
9 October, 2024
This story is part of our new series The #Laundry, which explores a vast, tangled web of international money laundering networks.
The #Laundry: City of Gold, part two – A vertically integrated gold machine
14 October, 2024
Recap: In Part One we saw how Zimbabwean pastor Frank Sadiqi managed to become one of the country’s biggest Krugerrand traders, buying a staggering R19-billion’s worth between late 2017 and 2020.
The #:Laundry, City of Gold, part three – How “fake” mines allegedly feed the illicit gold machine
21 October, 2024
Recap: In the previous two instalments of this series we tracked allegations of the rise of a colossal scam to melt down tax-free Krugerrands and employ so-called “invoice factories” to fraudulently claim back VAT.
The #Laundry: Shadow Banks, part one – phantom gold
28 October, 2024
Recap: In Parts One and Two of this series we saw how illicit gold seemingly made its way through a system winding all the way from the Reserve Bank’s Krugerrand subsidiary through a coin-dealing pastor to exporting refineries, allegedly in.
The #Laundry: Shadow banks, part two – Christo and Kotie
4 November, 2024
RECAP: Up until now our series on money laundering has focused on the network around alleged money launderer Howie Baker, gold trader Andries Greyvensteyn and tobacco mogul Simon Rudland.
The #Laundry: Shadow banks, part three – How RENS Kontant fed state capture laundries
18 November, 2024
RECAP: In our previous instalments we delved into RENS Kontant in Transito – one of the cash-in-transit companies seemingly acting as a conduit for moving funds for a broad and exotic clientele.
#TheLaundry: How Eswatini became a transit hub for Southern Africa’s money laundering networks
25 November, 2024
Leaked documents from the Eswatini Financial Intelligence Unit (EFIU) reveal how, in late 2018, the kingdom’s authorities began secretly investigating suspicious payments amounting to tens of millions of rands between entities linked to two politically connected businessmen.
#TheLaundry: From government contracts to a laundry web
12 December, 2024
In the course of the Covid-19 pandemic the South African government went large on emergency contracts for everything from masks and hand sanitiser to makeshift housing and hospital beds.
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