According to a report on illicit financial flow by Sentry, Kenya remains a top spot in Africa for laundering earnings of illegal wildlife trafficking, forestry, and fishing.
The paper, titled ‘Kenya Illicit Finance Risk and Assessment,’ claims that Kenya serves as a transshipment point for East Africa.
According to the study, Uganda, Mozambique, Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia, and South Sudan smuggle their animals through Kenya to Asian countries such as China and Hong Kong via Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, and Singapore.
The Sentry is a policy and research organization that tracks dirty money linked to African war criminals and transnational arms traffickers, intending to prevent individuals who profit from violence from entering the global financial system.
Environmental crimes, it continued, endanger Kenya’s natural ecosystem, food systems, and economic sources, and are frequently related to corrupt public officials, organized crime networks, and cartels.
It further said that between 2011 and 2016, officials in Mombasa intercepted over 20,000 kilos of ivory, with over 26,000 kilograms seized elsewhere passing via the Mombasa Port.
This is the sum of ivory from about 7,000 elephants.
The United Nations believes that yearly illicit ivory and rhino horn transactions could amount to $570 million and $390 million, respectively.
the survey showed that illicit logging causes Kenya to lose 70,000 hectares of forest per year.
Sandalwood, a profitable species is carried to Uganda, then returned to Kenya before being sent to other countries. Cartels and unscrupulous public authorities have been linked to the illegal timber trade.
Furthermore, illegal fishing is predicted to cost Kenya Sh10 billion ($90 million) per year.
Sentry references a recent investigation by Global Financial Integrity and Transparency International, which exposed how sophisticated corporate structures were utilized to conceal the beneficial owners of a ship fishing unlawfully in Kenyan seas.
The analysis follows a UNCTAD report titled Economic Development in Africa Report 2020, which rated Kenya 24th among nations with high illicit cash flows internationally.
Every year, the country is anticipated to lose at least Sh40 billion due to illicit financial flows and facilitates transfers of more than Sh300 billion in “dirty money.”