The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia | Xinhua | The National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE), the central bank, on Wednesday announced that it will offer a ransom in reward as part of ongoing efforts to crackdown hoarding, illicit transfer and transaction of foreign currency and gold.
The bounty follows the suspension of bank accounts belonging to 391 individuals who were allegedly involved in illegal foreign currency transfer activities.
Disclosing the new directive relating to the tips and rewards on illicit money and gold transfer and transaction, Mesfin Getachew, NBE’s legal services director, said the law will be transmitting 15 years of imprisonment against the guilty besides confiscating the foreign currency notes and relevant items.
According to the latest announcement, the bank will reward informants up to 15 percent of the foreign currency or an equivalent amount of gold value, which the police confiscated from the guilty with the help of the information obtained.
The informants can provide information related to illicit money transfers or transactions in person or through various mechanisms, Getachew said during a briefing Wednesday.
The punishment targets individuals engaged in hoarding and transfer of foreign currency, transfer and transaction of gold as well as printing and transfer of counterfeit currencies, said Abate Mitiku, the bank’s change management, planning and communication director.
The reward is believed to help ease the country’s pressing foreign currency deficit, which is considered one of the country’s major economic bottlenecks, Mitiku said.
“The ever growing illegal money transfer and transaction is more affecting the lives of people in Ethiopia than the war going on in the northern part of the country,” Mitiku added.
The latest measures by the NBE came as the gap between informal and official exchange rates is increasing at an alarming rate. In recent days, one U.S. dollar has been trading as high as 80 Ethiopian birrs on the parallel market, while the official rate remained around one U.S. dollar to 52.8 Ethiopian birrs.
