According to a source, Interpol is working to resolve a case in which three Nigerian nationals are suspected of using money laundering money to purchase bitcoins valued at more than $43 million.
Three Kenyans, including an undisclosed powerful Kenyan politician, are suspected of assisting the Nigerian three in their efforts to hide the true reason for the money transfer.
A review by Interpol indicated that the trio could have transported approximately $215 million (25 billion Kenyan shillings) from Nigeria to Kenya between October and November 2020, according to a report in the Kenyan daily the Nation.
The three, Olubunmi Akinyemiju, Olufemi Olukunmi Demuren, and Eghosasere Nehikhare embarked on a bitcoin purchasing frenzy after the monies arrived in Kenya.
The trio is reported to have purchased bitcoins worth $36,353,728 from Binance’s U.S. registered branch, one of the major cryptocurrency exchanges by traded values, during this purchasing binge.
A further $7,246,582 was spent on Busha, another cryptocurrency exchange, to purchase bitcoins.
The trio is thought to have transferred bitcoins to various wallets after obtaining them in an effort to make them undetectable, according to the report.
Despite this, the Kenyan tabloid stated that it was unable to determine the actual quantity of bitcoins purchased by the Nigerian trio on the Kenyan crypto exchange Bitpesa and on Quidax.
According to the investigation, the Nigerian trio was able to shift monies effectively under the guise of “same company fund transfers.” The quantity of the funds transfers, on the other hand, piqued Interpol’s curiosity.
Kenya’s Assets Recovery Agency (ARA) is said to have acquired a court order for it to suspend six bank accounts belonging to six firms connected to the suspected money launderers as a result of the Interpol investigation.
Furthermore, according to the Nation, two Kenyan citizens, Pauline Wanjiru Wachira and Evalyne Wawira Gachoki, may have assisted the three Nigerians in moving the laundered monies.
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