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{
    "id": 1278795,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1278795/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 196,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kikuyu, UDA",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Kimani Ichung'wah",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "corruptly from public coffers take their money. Suppose you move your money from Kenya to the United States of America (USA), South Africa or Dubai. In that case, the financial system globally can track it and ensure that proceeds of crimes like corruption, money laundering, drug trafficking, the proliferation of arms and terrorism financing… There should be no safe haven anywhere in the world for the proceeds of crime. There are gaps that this Taskforce identified through their peer reviews. Kenya has been subjected to these peer reviews again. The Financial Year 2021/2022 was the last time Kenya went through its second anti-money laundering and counterterrorism financing mutual evaluation. This is a peer review among States in Eastern Southern Africa with a body called the Eastern and Southern Africa Anti-Money Laundering Group (ESAAMLG). This regional anti-money laundering body conducts a peer review amongst the Member States. As a member State of this body, Kenya did its peer review in the Financial Year 2021/2022. Certain gaps were identified. This Bill seeks to address them. Allow me to review some of the identified gaps or deficiencies that were picked up during the mutual evaluation report for Kenya. They identified certain major deficiencies that needed to be addressed through legal reforms. They are the ones that this Bill now seeks to address. The first item is on proceeds of crime and anti-money laundering. The Proceeds of Crime and Anti-Money Laundering Act only contains anti-money laundering requirements but does not cover combating terrorism financing. Therefore, there is a gap where we have a law that only deals with anti-money laundering but does not adequately cover terrorism financing or combating terrorism financing. In our region, where we have incidents of terrorism, it is very crucial to have measures and adequate legal safeguards to ensure that we are combating terrorism financing. Those are some of the issues the Chairperson mentioned that this Bill seeks to address. It also identified that Kenya does not have a range of proportionate and suasive civil and administrative sanctions for dealing with natural or legal persons who fail to comply with anti-money laundering or combating the financing of terrorism requirements. If you do not have a range of proportionate and suasive civil and administrative sanctions against companies, those items are referred to as natural and legal persons… Legal persons are like companies. If we do not have adequate sanctions in our laws, it means somebody can steal money and launder it through companies that cannot be sanctioned. This Bill seeks to have adequate sanctions for natural persons and legal entities like registered companies, whether limited or non-limited. It was also noted that no provisions exist to make money laundering and terrorism financing extraditable offences. Therefore, you can commit a crime on terrorism financing or money laundering in Kenya and then take off to another country. Because those crimes are not classified as extraditable offences, then you will find people who steal from this country, and then they leave. An example is the owners of Triton Company. When they cleaned off money from this country through the Triton Energy scandal, they went and lived happily ever after in other countries. There are many other examples that you can cite where people have stolen money and obtained money corruptly. Because money laundering and terrorism financing are not classified as extraditable offences, you cannot extradite those people back to this country to be charged. These crimes are classified as extraditable offences in other jurisdictions. For example, the former Managing Director of Kenya Power and the former Minister for Energy were being sought in the British Islands to be charged with crimes related to obtaining money through corruption, but we could not do the same. With this new Bill, we will classify crimes around money laundering and combating terrorism financing as extraditable offences and extradite people who commit such crimes. Hon. Temporary Speaker, there was also a legal gap in Kenya regarding terrorism financing, which impedes the country’s efforts to fight terrorism financing. It also impacts the The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}