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Politics: Parliament passes anti-money laundering law

Kenya’s parliament has approved new anti-money laundering legislation in the latest attempt to clamp down on the recycling of illicit funds.

The Proceeds of Crime and Anti-Money Laundering Bill establishes a financial reporting centre to assist in the identification of the proceeds of crime and an asset recovery agency for tracing and recovering assets obtained by illegal means. It also introduces fresh monitoring requirements for the banking system.

The provisions still have to be signed into law by the president Mwai Kibaki, who failed to put his signature to a similar bill after it was passed by parliament in December 2008. Earlier attempts to pass anti-money laundering legislation in 2006 and 2007 also failed.

The new bill comes amid rumours that funds generated by piracy off the coast of Somalia are partly responsible for a recent boom in property prices especially in Nairobi, where local residents are finding themselves priced out of the market.

However some say it may just be a move to satisfy international donors and that, while the legislation itself is sound, there may not be the political will to enforce it.

Kenya currently ranks 146 out of 180 countries on the Corruption Perceptions Index drawn up by the international watchdog organisation Transparency International while according to the US State Department $93 million dollars of earnings from drug trafficking are laundered in the country every year.

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