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Kenyan court freezes $48.6m suspected to have been laundered by Nigerians

Published

1 year ago

April 8, 2022

A high court in Kenya has ordered the immediate freezing of bank accounts where the sum of $48.6 million was deposited on the suspicion that the amount was the proceed from laundered money in a fraud scheme perpetrated by some Kenyans and Nigerians allegedly backed by some powerful politicians.

According to Kenya’s Assets Recovery Agency (KARA), the millions were transferred from multiple offshore accounts, including Nigeria, into the accounts of three Kenyan companies, Remix Capital Ltd, OIT Africa Ltd and Avalon Offshore Logistics Ltd.

The amount, a total of Sh5.6 billion ($48.6 million) is currently frozen in two Kenyan banks including Equity Bank and UBA Kenya Ltd, after being flagged by the KARA.

The Agency noted that suspicions were raised when the directors of the companies who were Nigerian and Kenyan nationals, refused to explain the sources of the millions, leading to discrete investigation into the funds.

The Assets Recovery Agency has, however, petitioned that the is money should be forfeited to the Kenyan government.

“The pattern of transaction in the accounts in issue and the activities of respondents depict money laundering activities and this court ought to issue the orders sought,” the petition by the Assets Recovery Agency said.

A report by a local media privy to the discovery of the money said they were allegedly “laundered by two Kenyans and two Nigerians who are believed to have been used as fronts by some powerful Kenyan politicians.”

“The Assets Recovery Agency was tipped off after the millions were transferred from multiple offshore accounts (including Nigeria) into the accounts of these three Kenyan companies, Remix Capital Ltd, OIT Africa Ltd and Avalon Offshore Logistics Ltd.

“The agency received information on a suspected case of money laundering schemes and acquisition of proceeds of crime involving multiple money transactions conducted through the bank accounts of the respondents in US dollars and Kenya shillings mainly from foreign jurisdiction whose source has no legitimate explanation.

“Consequently, the agency obtained a court order to freeze the accounts in which the millions were deposited. The six accounts will remain frozen until the agency’s petition to have the money forfeited to the Kenyan Government is determined,” the media reported.

As further punishment, the two banks involved, Equity Bank and UBA Kenya, could face penalties from the Central Bank of Kenya for facilitating the ‘illegal’ transactions in line with Kenya’s anti-money laundering laws which require banks to report suspicious transactions to the appropriate authorities.

Related Topics:Featured fraud Kenya Money Laundering

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Court stops Facebook’s dismissal of content moderators in Kenya

Published

9 hours ago

June 4, 2023

Ifeoluwa Dada

The mass retrenchment by a subcontractor for Facebook’s parent company, Meta has been stopped by a court in Kenya.

The court obliged the prayer of 184 content moderators employed in Nairobi by Sama, an outsourcing firm for Meta, who claimed their dismissal was “unlawful”.

Judge Byram Ongaya said Meta and Sama were “restrained from terminating the contracts” pending the determination of the lawsuit challenging the legality of the dismissal.

“An interim order is hereby issued that any contracts that were to lapse before the determination of the petition be extended” until the case is settled, the judge added.

The court also ordered to “provide proper medical, psychiatric and psychological care for the petitioners and other Facebook content moderators”.

Mercy Mutemi, the petitioners’ lawyer, while commending the ruling, said it was “critical that the court found Facebook to be the true employer of its moderators,” adding that they were “very pleased” with the orders.

“This ruling is significant not only for the petitioners but for the entire social media and artificial intelligence industry,” Mutemi said in a statement.

Another local NGO and two Ethiopian citizens have also accused the tech giant of failing to act against online hate speech in Africa. The complainants claimed that this inaction resulted in the murder of an Ethiopian university professor and demanded the establishment of a $1.6 billion fund to compensate the victims.

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South Africa: Power rotation suspended ‘until further notice’ —Eskom

Published

1 day ago

June 3, 2023

Ifeoluwa Dada

South Africa’s state utility firm, Eskom has announced that its power rotation has been suspended “until further notice”.

The situation with the country’s electricity has been critical in recent months and load shedding exercises have gone as high as twelve hours a day.

Eskom spokeswoman, Daphne Mokwena told journalists “Load shedding was suspended today at 11:40 am (09:40 GMT) and until further notice, thanks to improved generation capacity and lower demand.”

“It is not possible to predict at this stage how long the suspension will last. We encourage the public to monitor their consumption, especially during peak hours,” stressed Ms. Mokwena, adding that load shedding could otherwise resume “at any time”.

The firm said it would immediately communicate any significant changes in the new development which South Africans would be hoping lasts long.

President Cyril Ramaphosa in February declared the situation a disaster and appointed a Minister of Electricity, in an attempt to get out of the crisis.

South Africa still draws 80% of its electricity from coal. A $98 billion investment plan was approved by rich countries last year at COP27 as part of an agreement for a “just transition” to clean energy.

Being one of Africa’s most industrialized economies, the power outages have threatened businesses and the general economy of the country. One of its leading companies, Tiger Brands had during the week revealed that its revenues were expected to drop due to the prolonged power challenges.