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

Published

2 years 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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Somalia secures $4.5bn debt relief from lenders

Published

3 hours ago

December 10, 2023

Ifeoluwa Dada

After a decade-long process of negotiations and reforms with creditors, Somalia has finally secured a $4.5 billion debt write-off from global lenders as the enhanced Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative has spared the nation from repaying its debt.

The World Bank reports that the country’s debt has significantly decreased from a peak of $5.2 billion to $600 million as a result of the action taken by multilateral and bilateral lenders, including the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Commercial creditors have contributed $3 billion towards the debt relief, with multilateral creditors contributing $573.1 million, the World Bank’s International Development Association contributing $448.5 million, the IMF contributing $343.2 million, and the African Development Fund contributing $131 million.

Following the Bretton Woods institutions’y boards’ approval process, a historic announcement regarding Somalia’s debt forgiveness is scheduled to take place in Washington DC on December 13.

HIPC completion points were reached by 37 nations, with Somalia following suit after Zimbabwe and Sudan were left behind. Under the leadership of the current president, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, Somalia began holding HIPC talks ten years ago, and the nation has continued on the reform path despite political obstacles.

Kristina Svensson, the country manager for Somalia at the World Bank, praised Mogadishu for its “remarkable” commitment to reform last week.

“There have been a lot of political challenges within Somalia, but this thing (principles of HIPC), has held it quite high,” she said.

“This is satisfactory for them (Somalia) to achieve debt relief,” said Ms. Svensson. “Both the World Bank and IMF as well as other international partners, have been essential to providing technical assistance to support the achievement of these triggers.”

Over the past few weeks, Somalia has achieved huge milestones in its efforts towards socioeconomic and political liberation. It recently joined regional bloc, East Africa Community (EAC), as it seeks strategic partnerships with neighbours.

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IMF advises Nigeria’s central bank to raise Monetary Policy Rate

Published

9 hours ago

December 10, 2023

Ifeoluwa Dada

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has urged Nigeria’s central bank (CBN) to further hike Monetary Policy Rate (MPR).

The IMF Director of Communications, Ms. Julie Kozack, in Washington DC, United States of America,
on Saturday stressing that the liquidity mop-up being undertaken by the CBN was already addressing the high inflationary rate of over 27%, but the rate must be further adjusted at its next Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting.

The IMF chief also commended recent policy actions on the removal of fuel subsidy and the unification of exchange rates by the Nigerian government.

Nigeria’s short-term interest rate was reported at 17.67 % pa in Oct 2023, compared with 8.67 % pa in the previous month. The data reached an all-time high of 22.95 % pa in Mar 2012 and a record low of 0.36 % pa in Nov 2020.

In her response to questions on Nigeria, she noted that “President Tinubu has implemented two bold and important reforms shortly after taking office.

“The first is on fuel subsidies. Nigeria’s fuel subsidies were costly, especially for the budget, and not well targeted to provide relief for vulnerable households, and so this was rectified. And the second was unifying of the official exchange rate and that removed long standing distortions of the multiple exchange rate system.

“You asked a specific question on inflation. Inflation in Nigeria is running very high. It reached over 27 percent in October, that is the year-on-year number.

“The Central bank, under its new leadership, has started to withdraw excess liquidity that was in the system and contributing to high inflation.

“The next Monetary Policy Committee meeting should further raise policy interest rate. So, the Central bank is taking action to try to address the high inflation problem. As we mentioned in our Article IV Consultation, which was held in February of 2023, raising revenue from the very current low revenue to GDP ratio of 9 percent is essential to create fiscal space for social and development spending. 9 percent of GDP is a very low revenue to GDP ratio, and it is really not high enough to be able to support strong social safety nets, and development spending, to help protect vulnerable households and also to meet Nigeria’s development needs.

”The 2024 budget aims to reduce the fiscal deficit while also creating space for these priority spendings, both on the social side and also on the development side.”