- Director of Criminal Investigations Mohamed Amin revealed some of the fake gold dealers have escaped from Kenya to neighboring countries where they are now operating.
- He said some of the suspects in the cases are from mineral-producing countries and that they use Kenya as a transit hub.
Detectives have managed to contain the menace of money laundering cases involving deals in fake gold. https://shorturl.at/eYnMO
Image: VICTOR IMBOTO
Detectives have managed to contain the menace of money laundering cases involving deals in fake gold.
Director of Criminal Investigations Mohamed Amin revealed some of the fake gold dealers have escaped from Kenya to neighboring countries where they are now operating.
He said some of the suspects in the cases are from mineral-producing countries and that they use Kenya as a transit hub.
Amin said the trend has now been downgraded as he blamed rogue lawyers for abetting the crime.
“We have managed to downgrade successfully the activities of these gold scammers in Kenya so much that they have now relocated to some of our neighbouring countries,” Amin said.
“Out of 71 reported cases we have identified and prosecuted 64 people. Some Kenyans and others are foreigners. In our investigations we received help from the FBI in recovery of proceeds of crime and area of social media,” Amin said.
Among those charged over the issue were lawyers involved, Amin said.
“We experienced a spike in gold scam cases with the victims using Kenya as a transit hub. The scammers collaborate with some rogue lawyers and open escrow accounts where the money is withdrawn immediately.”
He said Kenya does not produce such amount of gold being mentioned.
He spoke at the DCI headquarters on Tuesday, June 11 when he hosted FBI director Christopher Wray.
Amin said Kenya is getting more help from the US in the war on crime and in particular corruption.
Gold scammers have in the past years made Kenya a ground for conning unsuspecting buyers in a trend that shocked many.
On his part on the issue of gold Wray said the businesspersons who are losing millions to fraudsters stationed in Kenya do not conduct a good background check of the people they are dealing with and are unfamiliar with the laws and regulations that guide the type of business they come to conduct.
He said they are helping authorities in Kenya and the region to address the menace.
“It is also a fact that the wash wash business has become one of the most prevalent transnational crimes, more often than not being orchestrated by non-Kenyans in the initial stages. Kenya, and most specifically its capital, Nairobi, comes into play due to its strategic placement as a key transit route for the precious stones from Congo and other African countries to the United Arab Emirates and the rest of the world,” Wray said.
He said they have existing partnerships and many areas of cooperation, especially through Interpol operations and information sharing that enable them to pursue criminals anywhere across member states.
“We believe that this type of fraud has more to it in the underworld of money laundering, and that’s why our concerted efforts will eventually bring it to its knees.”
Among others, Wray held separate meetings with National Intelligence Service Director General Noordin Haji, Director of Criminal Investigations Mohamed Amin, Ethics and Anti Corruption Commission CEO Twalib Mbarak and Director of Public Prosecution Mulele Ingonga.
The officials said Wray with his team discussed with the security chiefs areas of mutual cooperation between the institutions.
Cyber crimes, terrorism and corruption topped the agenda of the meetings.
EACC said they have a long standing history of collaboration with the FBI stretching back to 2001.
Through close cooperation, EACC investigators have benefited from various specialised training on undercover operations, tradecraft and modern techniques in the investigation of complex financial, economic crimes, corruption cases and recovery of corruptly acquired and unexplained wealth.
During the meeting, Wray discussed with the EACC CEO various collaboration initiatives for effective modern law enforcement.
The discussions focused on enhancing partnerships between the FBI and EACC to counter transnational corruption and economic crimes. There was a resolve by the FBI to enhance its support to the commission through training and acquisition of modern investigative tools and equipment.
The meeting also explored ways of leveraging on exchange of information to support tracing and recovery of corruptly acquired assets stashed abroad.
Mbarak said the visit marks a major milestone as they seek to deepen their partnership and explore areas of cooperation.
“With technical support from the FBI, the Commission will have a greater impact in investigating high impact cases and robustly pursue recovery of corruptly acquired assets and unexplained wealth,” he said.