Kenya Insights

Tag: Gold

  • Congo Jails Three Chinese Citizens Found With Gold Bars And $400K Cash In Illegal Mining Crackdown

    Congo Jails Three Chinese Citizens Found With Gold Bars And $400K Cash In Illegal Mining Crackdown

    A Congolese court has sentenced three Chinese citizens to seven years in prison after they were arrested in possession of gold bars and $400,000 in cash and found guilty of illegal activities linked to the artisanal mining sector.

    The trio are the first Chinese nationals to stand trial since Democratic Republic of Congo launched its latest push to crack down on the unlicensed extraction of the many precious and strategic minerals buried in its conflict-torn east.

    “This is an educational trial that should normally serve as a wake-up call to all Chinese nationals who think they can leave China, arrive in Kitutu, Kibe, Lugushwa, Kamituga or Mwenga and behave as if they were in their own room, without even paying the hotel fees,” said Christian Wanduma, a lawyer representing local communities in the trial.

    The judge in a court in Bukavu, the capital of eastern South Kivu province, found the defendants guilty on Tuesday of money-laundering, illegal purchase and possession of mineral substances, and other charges.

    In addition to the prison sentence, the judge ordered them to pay a fine equivalent to $600,000, and permanently banned them from Congo once their sentences are served.

    He acquitted them of charges including fraud and illegal mineral extraction for lack of evidence. The defendants had pleaded guilty to four of the seven charges against them, but said throughout the trial that they had not known they were breaking Congolese law before they were arrested on Jan. 4.

    Their lawyers said they would appeal the ruling.

    Congo has struggled to stop unlicensed companies and local armed groups exploiting its rich reserves of cobalt, copper, gold and other minerals.

    Protesters took to the streets of Bukavu last week after Chinese men arrested on suspicion of illegal mining in a separate case were released.

    “Our minerals are being plundered by companies that are mostly Chinese-owned and our people remain in extreme poverty, the roads are very dilapidated, we have difficulty accessing drinking water, health care, education, electricity, employment,” civil society leader Nene Bintu said at the demonstration.

    “This situation has gone on for too long and must end now.”

    In 2021, the authorities banned six small Chinese-owned mining companies, who it accused of operating illegally.
    (Reuters)
  • Opposition Leader From Western Involved In Sh400M Gold Scam

    Opposition Leader From Western Involved In Sh400M Gold Scam

    Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum the leader of Emirate of Dubai has filled complain to Kenya that an opposition senator has conned the Royal family Ksh 400 million of gold.

    The opposition senator is among a gang of six cartels that are under the keen eye of DCI’s investigations of their involvement in the Gold scam. The gold fraud has implied strong complaints from the Vice President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates.

    The DCI is trailing a scheme that saw the royal family scammed multi-millions allegedly to secure a release of 5 tons of gold that had been purportedly seized at JKIA.

    The Directorate of Criminal Investigations says the alleged seizure was, supposedly, to be the first batch of a 23 tons gold shipment that was to be illegally brought in the country from DRC.

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    The trail has unraveled that the opposition senator flew to Dubai severally to persuade Royal Family that he has associates who would release alleged seized gold.

    The said opposition Senator, a politician and a businessman who runs a private jet leasing company at Wilson Airport have since denied all the allegations from the Royal family.

    Preliminary investigations show that the scheme started September 25, last year when the Senator and his group approached a nephew of Sheikh Maktoum, Mr Ali Zandi. Ali is a representative of Dubai based gold trading company, Zlivia.

    The cartel told Mr. Ali that they can deliver 4.6tons of gold from DRC. They had secured services of a Russian gold dealer who wanted down payments and transportation charges to Dubai.

    The senator and his cronies contacted Mr. Ali on September 27 alleging that the gold consignment had been incarcerated by customs officials at JKIA.

    Investigations indicate that Massoud Zandi a representative of Zlivia Gold Trading Company called the Senator for help and on 15th December last year the opposition senator flew to Dubai on the invitation of Mr. Zandi.

    The senator demanded cash to ease the release of the alleged confiscated consignment. Mr. Zandi was of the contrary opinion and flew in the country on 24th December last year with hopes of meeting a senior Kenyan government official.

    Mr Zandi could not manage a sit down with the government official instead the senator and his cartels took Zandi to JKIA and showed him sealed boxes allegedly holding Gold.

    On January 21, this year, Zandi was secretly moved at night to meet a Cabinet secretary imposter at a Karen Hotel. The senior government imposter met Mr. Zandi in a car in the presence of the Senator.

    They, the Senator and the CS imposter guaranteed Zandi that his Gold will be released in a week time after he flies out back to Dubai. Zandi says he has neither received his gold nor heard from the six cartels months later.

    Sheikh Maktoum has forwarded a written complain to Kenya through the Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i. The Royal family leader has requested immediate actions to those involved in masterminding a gold scam against the Family.

    Sheikh decided to contact the government directly after the cartels lied to him that the delay to release the consignment was caused the DusitD2 attack.

    “Nevertheless, now we need your immediate and strong action to release the totality of Zlivia Gold shipment to UEA as soon as possible and accordingly to the instructions by our General Manager Mr Zandi who is there in Kenya to organize the shipment.” Quote from the Sheikh’s letter to interior CS dated 20th January.

    Also read:Joshua Kutuny: Jubilee Is Divided Into Two

    Since the Shiekh wanted the matter to be solved as soon as possible, a Russian national Yulian Stankov and Mohammed Rashi both wanted international scammers were on Friday arraigned before the Milimani Law Courts in Nairobi. The two are said to be in connection of the Ksh 400 Million scam.

    Investigators told the court that Stankov did not have any identification documents. He was arrested after saying that he’s shipping 5tons of gold to Dubai.
    DCI Investigators demanded the permission to access cell phones of the accused persons to aid in the investigations of their involvement in the gold scam and other related Cybercrimes.