Kenyan court freeze more accounts

Friday, 15 July 2022

Good morning!

Dennis here!

It seems to be just the beginning of the Asset Recovery Agency of Kenya's fight to curb money laundering. Barely a week after Flutterwave's accounts in the country were frozen, the court has frozen the accounts of two Nigerian startups KoraPay and Kandor, also over money laundering allegations.

Below are the tech stories and news you need to know to start your day, carefully curated by Technext.

Summary of the news

A Kenyan court has frozen Sh45m in Nigeria's KoraPay and Kandon bank accounts
TikTok has launched an in-app guide to curb misinformation ahead of the Kenyan elections in August
ECOWAS court said that Buhari's Twitter ban was “unlawful and a violation of rights of Nigerians”
Giant NFT marketplace OpenSea has laid off about 20 per cent of its staff

Kenyan court freezes Nigeria's Korapay and Kandon bank accounts

Barely two weeks after it announced its ambitious new expansion into the United Kindom, the Kenyan bank account of Nigerian fintech KoraPay, founded in 2018 by Dickson Nsofor and Bryan Uyanwune, has been frozen over international money laundering accusations. KoraPay had $249,990 in the Equity Bank account when it was frozen.

The Nigerian liquidity startup, Kandon's Kenyan accounts have also been frozen. Kandon had Sh15 million in two accounts with UBA in Kenya that have been frozen.

The Asset Recovery Agency of Kenya made the allegations against both companies.

According to the Kenyan news outlet The Standard, the ARA, in its suit against the two companies, argued that they are part of an international ring of fraudsters who have been using Kenyan banks as conduits of illicit money whose source cannot be established.

The ARA said:

Our investigations revealed that their account had transacted Sh5.5 billion in seven months and by the time we got intelligence information that they were engaged in money laundering, they had transferred the funds to other jurisdictions with only Sh15 million remaining.

In both cases, the ARA said that founders used their company's accounts to launder huge sums of money in shillings, which were hurriedly transferred into other accounts "in a move to disguise and conceal the source and destination of the suspected illicit funds."

The ARA also said that both companies are linked to Flutterwave, the Nigerian unicorn whose Kenyan accounts were also frozen last week

Both companies will have their accounts frozen for 6 months as the Kenyan authorities continue their investigations.

TikTok fights misinformation in Kenya

TikTok has launched an in-app guide to enable access to factual and authoritative information ahead of Kenya's general elections in August, Benjamin Dada reports.

Even though TikTok’s policy is against hate speech and sharing of discriminatory, inciteful, and synthetic content, this innovation is coming a month after the Mozilla Foundation revealed that Tiktok was been used to fuel misinformation and political tension. Kenya's election is TikTok's first real test in an African democratic process, according to the foundation.

TikTok’s Sub-Saharan Africa's Head of Government Relations, Fortune Mgwili-Sibanda said:

We are engaging with diverse stakeholders in Kenya to discuss opportunities and challenges for dynamic solutions in a fast-paced digital world. Our resolve is to spread positive vibes in markets where we operate as we promote peaceful coexistence.

TikTok plays a significant role in shaping discourse around current affairs. Using TikTok as a medium through which to engender an atmosphere of mutual cooperation during Kenya’s national election period is part of our resolve to provide a platform that promotes peace and provides a safe space for digital expression.

ECOWAS gives Buhari last warning over Twitter ban

The ECOWAS Court has declared that the federal government’s order to ban Twitter in June 2021 was unlawful and a violation of the rights of Nigerians, Nairametrics reports.

The court which gave the ruling yesterday, that the Federal government’s action was unlawful and inconsistent with Article 9 of the African Charter and Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

The court said:

The Buhari administration in suspending the operations of Twitter violates the rights of SERAP and 176 concerned Nigerians to the enjoyment of freedom of expression, access to information and the media, as well as the right to a fair hearing.

The court directed the present administration to ensure the unlawful ban on Twitter never repeats itself again, bring up policies that give effect to the rights and freedom of Nigerians.

Giant NFT marketplace OpenSea lays off about 20 percent of its staff

OpenSea co-founder and CEO Devin Finzer revealed yesterday according to The Verge that the NFT marketplace is laying off about 20 per cent of its employees. Finzer did not indicate how many people that represented.

A Forbes article in January celebrating Finzer and his co-founder Alex Atallah’s $2.2 billion net worth (each) said the company employed more than 70 people, but an OpenSea spokesperson tells The Verge that 230 people will remain with the company.

Finzer said that they were able to notify affected employees directly in person before announcing the layoffs, providing “generous” severance, healthcare for the rest of the year, job placement assistance, and accelerated equity vesting. In his note, Finzer says these changes give the company as many as five years’ worth of runway if this “crypto winter” continues.