A Nigerian student serving a three-year sentence for money laundry has lost Sh 3.1 M that had been sent to him by his aunt from the US.
Peter Olaiwon was sentenced to three years in prison after being found guilty of conveying monetary instruments to Kenya
A parcel was sent to him from South Carolina by his aunt and it contained 6 books, 7 T-shirts and one One Jacket that had 28,000 USD cash which was not declared.
Justice Nixon Sifuna on Friday allowed an application by the Asset Recovery to forfeit the money to the state.
He ruled that Olaiwon did not produce sufficient evidence to convince the court to return the money back to him.
The judge ruled that from the evidence produced the Nigerian is a member of an elaborate cross border fraudsters and criminal involved in Illicit activities and the cross-border conveyance of cash disguised as parcels so has to avoid detection by police.
“Why else was such a huge sum of money conveyed in a parcel instead of being sent through the normal way through banks and other money transfer institutions such as Western Union?,” the judge posed.
“I find that the application has established a case for forfeiture of the USD 28,000 and the respondent has failed to discount,” he ruled.
He further said that there was reasonable suspicion that the money might be a direct or indirect benefit profits of crime obtained from a complex web of a money laundering scheme, or intended for use in the promotion and commissions of crime.
“There is a high likelihood that he is involved in suspicious activities and so its justifiable for court to conclude that he is a member of an elaborate cross-border fraudsters and criminals involved in illicit activities,” the judge ruled.
In the case, Asset recovery had argued that the money was from proceeds of crime which Olawain wanted to hide and disguise because it was not declared as is required by law.
However, Olaiwon who was on his first visit to Kenya told court that the money was sent to him in good faith and was to be used in opening a hotel business in Eastleigh.
In his defence he said he was only a month old in the country and did not have a bank account.
He didn’t want the money to be forfeited to the state saying it would be a miscarriage of justice.
According to the law any person intending to convey money in excess of USD 10,000 into and out of Kenya is supposed to declare the same to an authorized person.
