Joining forces to tackle corruption: UNODC hosts inter-regional workshop on asset recovery

17 October 2017 - International cooperation is indispensable to eradicate the corrosive effects of corruption.

The process of tracing, freezing, confiscating and returning the stolen assets to their country of origin is usually a complex and lengthy one, involving multiple jurisdictions and often complicated by technical, legal or political barriers.

Building on experience in this area, UNODC recently hosted an inter-regional workshop on international cooperation in asset recovery and confiscation. The two-day workshop in Islamabad, Pakistan focused on cooperation in legal matters as well as criminal justice and legal reform in the West and Central Asia region.

Currently, no such platform exists in the region, thus making asset tracking and recovery even more challenging. In light of these factors, UNODC - through its Regional Programme for Afghanistan and Neighbouring Countries and its Country Programme of Pakistan- is supporting the countries concerned to lay the basis for the establishment of the Asset Recovery Inter-agency Network (ARIN).

Speaking at the event, Jeremy Milsom, UNODC Senior Programme Coordinator of the Regional Programme, said that the West and Central Asia region is not covered by any asset recovery network and the Office considers this as a priority area for support. "UNODC, through its Regional Programme, has been engaging in asset recovery efforts in the region since 2012, and will do its utmost to secure the necessary funds to support it," he stressed.

Similarly, participants emphasized the need to establish a network to help the region determine the status of asset management legal framework and to assist countries in tackling corruption and money laundering.

The United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) offers a strong framework for States to engage in international cooperation at both the informal and formal levels to address corruption. Over the past fifteen years, a number of regional networks have been established to enhance asset recovery by providing a platform for dialogue between parties. The achievements of these networks include major increases in arrests, prosecutions and asset seizures.

The event, funded by the Government of Sweden, drew a number of officials from Afghanistan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Pakistan, as well as experts representing UNODC Global Programme against Money Laundering and the Asset Recovery Networks of Europe ( CARIN) and South Africa ( ARINSA).

Http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/frontpage/2017/October/joining-forces-to-tackle-corruption_-unodc-hosts-inter-regional-workshop-on-asset-recovery.html?ref=fs2

Two of Africa's most wanted poachers caught

2017-10-07 08:40

Derrick Spies, Correspondent

Malawi – Two of East Africa's most wanted wildlife criminals have been arrested in Malawi for their involvement in the illegal trade of ivory. 

Brothers Chancy and Patrick Kaunda of Malawi, who were the subjects of Interpol Red Notices issued at the request of Tanzania, are suspected of trying to export 781 elephant tusks from Tanzania to Malawi without the proper permits in 2013. 

The illicit tusks are valued at $5.8m (R79.9m), and had been concealed in a shipment of bags of cement.

According to a statement by Interpol, the Malawi police, in cooperation with Tanzanian authorities and supported by a team deployed by Interpol, apprehended one of the fugitives in northern Malawi on Wednesday, October 4. 

Based on information following the arrest, police were able to locate and apprehend the second brother just a few hours later.  

The arrests took place within the framework of Operation Usalama IV, an operation led by the Eastern Africa Police Chiefs Cooperation Organisation (EAPCCO) and the Southern African Regional Police Chiefs Cooperation Organisation (SARPCCO) with support from Interpol. 

The two-day operation targeted transnational crimes including human, drug and arms trafficking, people smuggling, terrorism, counterfeit and illicit goods and environmental crime.

"These arrests demonstrate the commitment of Malawi and Tanzania to combating the organised crime networks active in environmental crime through an intelligence-led law enforcement approach," said Henri Fournel, Coordinator of Inetrpol's Project Wisdom. 

"We congratulate our colleagues for apprehending these fugitives, and commend all our member countries in Africa and Asia for their continued dedication in the fight against international ivory trafficking," said Fournel.

Fournel said the arrests highlighted the importance of ongoing cooperation between Interpol's Project Wisdom and local authorities to tackle the illegal trafficking of ivory and rhinoceros horns in Africa.

Funded by The Wildcat Foundation, Project Wisdom encourages Interpol’s 192-member countries to prioritise international exchange of information and to expand their use of Interpol policing capability, including its colour-coded notices system to investigate, locate and apprehend environmental criminals.

Kaphamtengo implicates in-law in K201mil Cashgate

October 4, 2017 Wanga Gwede- Nyasa Times

Cornelius Kaphamtengo who is accused with 13 others of stealing and sharing among themselves K201 million ($358 929) in 2011 from the then Ministry of Elderly and Disability Affairs through the Accountant General’s Office testified in court that his brother-in-law duped him into using his business documents and bank account for the ‘Cashgate’ affair.

Kamphamtengo told the court that his brother-in-law Conrad Nambala who was working as an accountant in the Ministry of Disability, sued his Nova Technologies and General Dealings Company for his ‘cashgate’ activities.

He said Nambala took advantage of Nova Company’s good reputation and history of doing business with government.

“My brother-in-law could just call me and dictate the list of people to be issued with cheques and the amount of money to be given to each of the people on that list. I could write cheques and send them to Lilongwe where Nambala was staying using courier,” Kaphamtengo testified.

Kaphamtengo told the court that he never benefited anything from the loot.

Quizzed by State lead prosecutor in the case, who is also deputy director general of Anti-Corruption Bureau, Reyneck Matemba on why he did not verify the details of the contract his brother-in-law had with government, he told the court that it was based on trust.

Nambala, who is 9th accused person out of 14n suspects, wrote a letter to ACB explaining in details how he coaxed fellow accused persons to siphon government money in the ministry of disability where he was working with other co-workmates.

Kaphantengo‘s lawyer Burton Phiri asked the court to consider the letter which he said he would like to use during defence stage of his clients.

Among others,Nambala in the letter he explains in detail how he approached second accused person Yvone Kaphantengo,  who is his sister and her husband Cornelius Kaphantengo,  saying he lied to them that he had won a contract with the government and he wanted to use their certificate as Nova Technologies and General dealers.

He also explains in details how he was distributing the cheques upon cashing the millions among the other accused persons.

The presiding judge Charles Mkandawire adjourned the case to Wednesday where there will be testimony from Kaphamtengo’s wife, Yvonne among other suspects.

The charges against the 14 suspects range from theft, money laundering, abuse of office and conspiracy to committing a felony.

The alleged looting of public funds took place between November 1 2010 and June 30 2011 and centred around Ministry of Elderly and Disability Affairs through the Accountant General’s office.

Other co-accused persons are Chikondi Chimutu, whose charge of theft involves K18.3 million of the K201 million, Emmanuel Yesaya whose charge of theft involves K27.4 million, Deusdedit Tenthani who allegedly got a share of K16.2 million, Tendai Nayeja (K27.1 million), Audney Kamitengeni (K9.9 million), Justina Nyirenda charged with abuse of public office as she was an accounts assistant in the Accountant General’s office and Squire Chakwana charged with theft of K10.7 million.

Others are Jimmy Mbuliro whose theft charge is K3 million, Wides Machika Mbuliro (K0.5 million), Tapiwa Ng’oma (K9.1 million) and Khumbo Banda (K2.7 million).

During an earlier hearing, the court learnt that subsequent revelations of the plunder of public resources in 2013 dubbed Cashgate was an upgrade of the theft of public money by the suspects from 2011.

In 2013, the shooting of former Ministry of Finance budget director Paul Mphwiyo led to revelations of the plunder of public resources at Capital Hill.

Former president Joyce Banda ordered an audit which British forensic auditor, RSM (formally Baker Tilly), undertook between April and September 2013 which established that about K24 billion was siphoned from public coffers through dubious payments, inflated invoices and goods or services never rendered.

In May 2015, a financial analysis report by audit and business advisory firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) also established that about K577 billion in public funds could not be reconciliated between 2009 and December 31 2014. The figure has been reduced to K236 billion.

https://www.nyasatimes.com/kaphamtengo-implicates-law-k201mil-cashgate/

Former PetroSA boss in Cape Town court for alleged fraud involving R60m

She allegedly committed the fraud over a four-year period between 2007 and 2011.

A former PetroSA manager has been arrested on fraud, theft and money laundering charges, South Africa’s Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (the Hawks) said on Tuesday.

Matshidso Eunice Mogashoa, 61, is alleged to have defrauded the state-owned petroleum firm of more than R60 million. The Hawks said Mogashoa appeared in the Bellville Specialised Commercial Crimes Court on Thursday last week on the same day that she was arrested by the Serious Anti-Corruption Unit. She was released on R5 000 bail.

The former Corporate Social Investment manager at the parastatal’s head office in Parow allegedly committed the fraud over a four-year period between 2007 and 2011.

Hawks spokesperson Captain Lloyd Ramovha said on Tuesday that she allegedly processed multiple payments to disadvantaged schools in and around the Eastern Cape of more than R500 000 per transaction, which was beyond her level of authority.

“Mogashoa reportedly processed more than R60 million worth of these payments, and she would then apparently phone the school principals to pay back a portion of the funds into her personal account, alleging overpayment,” Ramovha said.

The case was postponed until October 25.

A new report published by The Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime lifts the lid on state-sanctioned North Korean criminal activity in Africa, exposing diplomats and embassies linked to illicit trade in rhino horn, ivory, cigarettes and minerals. Research conducted by the Global Initiative has linked North Korean diplomatic passport holders to at least 18 cases of rhino horn and ivory smuggling over the past 30 years. Drawing on interviews with high-level North Korean defectors, diplomatic and government sources and hundreds pages of documents, press reports and academic articles, the report “Diplomats and Deceit – North Korea’s Criminal Activities in Africa”, examines North Korea’s involvement in Africa and allegations that the country’s embassies in several African states are intimately connected to a complex web of illicit activity aimed at the bolstering the Kim Jong-un regime and enriching cash-strapped diplomats.

You can read the report here: http://globalinitiative.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/tgiatoc_diplomats_and_deceit_dprk_report_1868_web_.pdf

A TRAFFIC report released this week reveals disturbing new evidence that some criminal networks of Chinese origin operating in South Africa are now processing rhino horn locally into beads, bracelets, bangles and powder to evade detection and provide ready-made products to consumers in Asia, mainly in Viet Nam and China.

The report, Pendants, Powder and Pathways—A rapid assessment of smuggling routes and techniques used in the illicit trade in African rhino horn, documents recent cases in which police have discovered small home-based workshops for processing rhino horn and have seized beads, bracelets and bags of rhino horn powder.

Prior to these cases, seizures have typically comprised whole horns, or ones simply cut into two or more pieces.

“It is a growing problem,” Colonel Johan Jooste, national commander of the Endangered Species Section in South Africa’s Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI), told TRAFFIC researchers. “The syndicates no longer want to export whole horns. They have begun cutting them up into what they call ‘disks’ and large beads in line with demand on the market side and in order to avoid detection…” 

More than 7,100 rhinos have been killed for their horns in Africa over the past decade. South Africa, home to 79% of Africa’s last remaining rhinos, is the centre of the storm, suffering 91% of the continent’s known poaching losses in 2016. Facilitated by resilient, highly-adaptive criminal networks and endemic corruption in many countries along the illicit supply chain, demand for rhino horn is driven by consumers in Asia, with Viet Nam and China identified as the dominant end use markets.

A copy of the report is attached...

Chinese national caught with 5 rhino horns at OR Tambo International Airport

2017-09-11 22:15

Johannesburg - A Chinese national attempting to smuggle an illegal stash of five rhino horns was nabbed at Johannesburg’s OR Tambo International Airport on Friday, just two weeks after the world’s first online rhino horn auction was held in South Africa. 

The passenger and the contraband, said to be the most valuable commodity in the world, were bound for Hong Kong, according to police. 

The bust comes just over two weeks after rhino farmer and horn trader John Hume staged the world's first international rhino horn auction, an event which was mired in controversy.

While the source of the seized horns has not yet been confirmed, conservationists and legal experts warned the lifting of the domestic moratorium on rhino horn trade would lead to an explosion in international rhino horn smuggling.

Although the eight-year old domestic moratorium on rhino horn trade was finally lifted in April this year, it is still illegal to move rhino horn across international borders.

Reference number 

According to a set of photographs supplied by police, at least one of the horns was marked with a set of numbers that appear to reference a microchip number.

If a microchip was removed from the horn, a DNA profile test will have to be undertaken at the RHODIS VGL facility at Ondersterpoort to determine if the origin had ever been legally profiled by its owner.

Police spokesperson Brigadier Vishnu Naidoo said customs agents and police responded to information about a suspicious bag that was bound for Hong Kong.
 
“After making a positive identification, the agents intercepted the bag and its owner at the boarding gate. A physical search of the bag was conducted, which led to the discovery of five rhino horn that had been wrapped in foil” Naidoo said.
 
The passenger was arrested and the horns were handed over to the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigations (Hawks) for further investigation.
 
A Chinese male appeared in the Kempton Park Regional Court on Monday morning in connection with the incident, and was remanded for a formal bail application on September 29th.

Drugs

In a separate incident on Saturday, a team of agents arrested a Brazilian passenger allegedly carrying drugs suspected to be cocaine. He was entering the country on a flight from Sao Paulo.
 
Collectively, both hauls are estimated to be worth more than R6 million.
 
“SARS Customs officials and the K-9 unit conducted a full rummage on-board a flight from Sao Paolo, and interviewed passengers”, Naidoo said.
 
“It was discovered the suspect had no tags on his luggage. He was taken to the common search area, where it was discovered that the bag contained black blocks. Preliminary testing indicated that the drug is most likely cocaine. If further tests confirm this, the consignment could be valued at R5 million.

“A further search of the same aircraft was conducted and two socks containing "cocaine bullets" were found in different toilets. Preliminary tests also indicated that the substance is cocaine. No arrests have been made with regards to these drugs” he added.
 
The intercepts were conducted by a multi-disciplinary team from the South African Police Service (SAPS), South African Revenue Service (SARS), the Department of Home Affairs, Airports Company South Africa (ACSA) and other stakeholders.
 
“The team’s integrated effort and commitment is yielding great successes; both in the prevention as well as the combatting of crime in and around the airport" Naidoo said.

http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/chinese-national-busted-with-5-rhino-horns-at-or-tambo-international-airport-20170911

UNODC EXPLORES THE DARK-WEB

It is estimated that the cost of cyber security will be over 2 trillion dollars by 2019. Criminals now regularly exploit the Internet to commit a wide range of offences. The market provided by online services is enormous.  Facebook announced in April 2017 that they have more than 2 billion regular users.

It is therefore important that investigators are trained in the techniques used by cyber criminals. It is also important that investigators know how to obtain information from the vast resource that forms the Internet and the World Wide Web.

UNODC through The Asset Recovery Inter-Agency Network for Southern Africa (ARINSA) recently held a workshop in Windhoek, Namibia on Open-source investigations and cyber-crime. The workshop was attended by FIU analysts, investigators and prosecutors from the Southern and Eastern African region.

During the course of the workshop the participants were introduced to cyber-crime, how to investigate web-sites and social media and using open-source resources to conduct investigations.

The participants were online for the whole of the workshop and were also taken on a tour of the dark-web an area of the Internet that has become notorious for criminal activity.

The participants developed skills that will enable them to conduct some investigations from their desks providing a cost effective method of tracing criminal activity and the proceeds of crime.

UNODC UNRAVELS THE MYSTERY OF BENEFICIAL OWNERSHIP

As was recently demonstrated by the Panama Papers criminals and corrupt politicians are using increasingly complex corporate structures and legal arrangements to conceal their assets.

Ask yourself the following questions.

Who owns Company A?   Is it the directors or shareholders?

If however, Company A is owned by Company B who owns Company A?

If Companies A and B are held by Trust C. Who now owns Company A?

Now imagine that Trust C is held by an Anstalt or Gesellschaft.

Can you answer the crucial question, who is the Beneficial Owner of Company A?

To paraphrase Sir Winston Churchill “It is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma; but perhaps there is a key.”

The key to these questions was revealed to participants at a workshop on Beneficial Ownership organized by UNODC through Asset Recovery Inter-agency Network for Southern Africa (ARINSA).  The workshop for 30 analysts, prosecutors and investigators was designed to de-mystify the problems of identifying the ownership of assets held by companies, trusts and other legal arrangements. The workshop started with an introduction to the legal structures and arrangements that can be used to launder money

The participants were then taken through a case study based on real events. The participants also did their own online research to identify the owners of companies.

What is a beneficial holder?

What is the ultimate beneficial owner?

What does it mean when shares are beneficially held?

What is an ownership entity?

The practical skills developed during the workshop will enable the participants to take their own steps to unravel the ownership of companies and trusts. 

The Fiscal Police in Blantyre have arrested NBS Bank’s Financial Controller, identified as Matthias Sulumba, for money laundering and theft by servant charges.

Sulumbu, who hails from Magulugulu village in Karonga district and stationed at the bank’s head office at Ginnery Corner in the commercial city, was arrested on Tuesday.

He spent a night in the cooler at Blantyre Police Station, according to Isaac Norman, one of the senior officers at the Fiscal Police.

Sulumbu is suspected to have stolen K55 million from the FDH Bank where he was working before he joined NBS bank.

In an interview monitored on public broadcaster, MBC, Norman said it is unfortunate that money laundering and related cases are being perpetrated by educated people.

He said Sulumbu will face charges bordering on money laundering, theft by servant and fraudulently false accounting.

“He has just been arrested and we hope within the 48 hours as prescribed by the laws of Malawi he will appear before the court.

“Cases of fraud are increasing in Malawi and unfortunately the ones perpetrating fraud are people who have gone to school and it is really affecting the economy of Malawi.

“For example, Sulumbu is a qualified accountant and he was taking money from the FDH Bank’ corporation account transfering it to his personal saving account. It’s really worrisome situation because as stewards he was supposed to take good care of the money of the bank,” asserted Norman.

Read More: https://www.nyasatimes.com/nbs-bank-financial-controller-arrested-money-laundering-theft-servant-offences/