Three Nigerian firms accused of being at the centre of an international money laundering scheme have been cleared by the Assets Recovery Agency (ARA).
The companies had a lawsuit filed against them by ARA stating they were responsible for smuggling more than Sh25 billion into the country illegally between October and November last year.
High court judge Lady Justice Maina, while giving a ruling on the matter, issued an order restricting the government agency from freezing their accounts citing an affidavit by ARA’s investigator Fredrick Musyoki.
“The money was mainly from a foreign jurisdiction and when we summoned the directors, they could not explain their sources which made us believe they are proceeds of crime liable for forfeiture to the State,” Musyoki’s affidavit read.
The Agency further stated that it had only recovered Sh5.7 billion. The trio firms include Avalon Offshore Logistics Limited, OIT Africa Limited, and RemX Capital Limited.
According to the Asset Recovery Agency, the firms are owned by two Nigerians and two Kenyans who are registered as directors but were actually working as agents for dishonest powerful individuals.
In April, the government agency froze the companies’ accounts preventing them from trading with, withdrawing, and transferring the money under scrutiny.
“The companies’ bank accounts had received credits from numerous dubious sources before they made rapid withdrawals and transfers to other countries in order to conceal, disguise, and mask the nature and purpose of the cash,” ARA director said in a statement concerning the matter.
This is not the first time Nigerian firms have been put in the spotlight due to money laundering. In 2021, the high court ordered accounts of two Nigerian firms, Korapay and Kandon technologies to be frozen.