The Director of Public Prosecutions, Renson Ingonga, CBS, OGW, this morning chaired a high-level meeting of law enforcement and financial crime principals to review Kenya’s progress in strengthening its anti-money laundering (AML) and countering the financing of terrorism (CFT) framework.
The meeting provided a platform for the principals to receive and consider preliminary comments from the Africa Joint Group on Kenya’s Progress Report, ahead of the country’s continued engagement with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) process.
The discussions focused on identifying areas requiring further action and strengthening Kenya’s collective response to financial crimes, with the ultimate objective of ensuring that the country fully addresses the outstanding requirements and exits the FATF grey list.
The meeting brought together the Director General of the Financial Reporting Centre (FRC), Naphtaly Rono; Director of Criminal Investigations, Mohamed Amin; Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) Chief Executive Officer, Abdi Mohamud; Ag. Director General of the Assets Recovery Agency (ARA) Mark Ogonji, as well as a representative from the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA).
The importance of sustained multi-agency collaboration in combating money laundering, terrorism financing and other forms of financial crime.
The principals reviewed the preliminary observations on Kenya’s progress report and considered the measures required to address any outstanding concerns. The engagement also provided an opportunity for the agencies to align their interventions and strengthen coordination ahead of the next stages of the international assessment process.
The principals reaffirmed their commitment to working collectively to ensure that Kenya meets all the required standards and demonstrates sustained effectiveness in the investigation, prosecution and recovery of proceeds of crime and in disrupting the financing of terrorism.
They noted that Kenya’s efforts to exit the grey list require a coordinated approach across the criminal justice and financial sectors, with law enforcement agencies expected to continue strengthening investigations, prosecutions, asset recovery, financial intelligence and other measures aimed at disrupting illicit financial flows.
The meeting further emphasised the need for agencies to build on the progress already made and ensure that identified gaps are addressed within the required timelines.
The principals reiterated that Kenya’s removal from the grey list remains a shared national priority and pledged to maintain close collaboration, information sharing and coordinated action to achieve the desired outcome.
They expressed confidence that through sustained collaboration and implementation of the required reforms, Kenya will successfully address the outstanding issues and achieve its objective of being cleared from the grey list.
The engagement comes as Kenya continues implementing measures aimed at strengthening its AML/CFT regime and demonstrating effectiveness in detecting, investigating, prosecuting and disrupting financial crimes.
