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HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) - Zimbabwean authorities have arrested more than 2,000 people accused of money laundering since the introduction last week of a currency reform intended to tame the world's highest inflation rate and prop up the teetering economy.
The Reserve Bank last week knocked off the final three digits from the currency — thus 100,000 Zimbabwe dollars became 100 Zimbabwe dollars. It also gave a deadline of Aug. 21 for exchanging the old notes but set limits on how much individuals and businesses could deposit without having to answer questions about the origins of the money.
The Herald newspaper said Monday that 2,036 people have been arrested by security forces trying to stop syndicates seeking to evade the controls by dividing stashes of money among several people.
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