Treasury CS Henry Rotich has set up a high-powered task force to investigate the extent of money laundering in a bid to close loopholes used by criminals and cartels to clean illicit cash.
The team, gazetted on Friday, will mainly focus on casinos, land and luxury vehicle transactions.
Other sectors targeted for assessment include forex bureaus, money remittance outlets, hotels and restaurants and mineral dealers.
Vehicle dealers, real estate developers and law firms have for long been cited as fronts for laundering dirty cash into the economy.
It comprises of 30 state agencies including the judiciary, banks, saccos, real estate and gaming regulators.
It is expected to craft a national strategy on combatting money laundering and terrorism financing by March 31, 2020.
“The task force will assess levels and trends of money laundering and terrorism financing risk in the country.
“It will also identify the threat posed by money laundering and terrorism financing to the country; collect, input and analyse data to facilitate identification of the risks, threats and vulnerabilities,” the Gazette notice read in part.
The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) and National Intelligence Service (NIS) are also part of the team.
The task force will be chaired by the Treasury while its activities will be coordinated by the Financial Reporting Centre, the state’s anti-money laundering unit.
