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Kenya

15 NGOs accused of funding terrorism de-registered

NGO Coordination Board Executive Director Fazul Mohamed says bank accounts of the NGOs have been frozen and permits of foreign workers revoked.

NGO Coordination Board Executive Director Fazul Mahamed says bank accounts of the NGOs have been frozen and permits of foreign workers revoked.

NAIROBI, Kenya, Dec 16 – Fifteen Non-Governmental Organisations accused of financing terrorism in the country have been de-registered by the NGO Coordination Board.

The board’s Executive Director Fazul Mahamed said on Tuesday that bank accounts of the NGOs have also been frozen and permits of foreign workers revoked.

Addressing journalists, Mahamed said they had identified the source of the money the NGOs have been using to promote terror activities in the country and the region.

“In collaboration with security agencies locally and internationally, the board has identified the affected NGOs, their collaborators and sources of funding their activities,” he stated.

“The board has de-registered these organisations, frozen their bank accounts and forwarded information on them to relevant government security agencies for appropriate action.”

He however declined to name the organisations saying, “it will hamper the ongoing investigation… soon those involved will be prosecuted.”

According to Mahamed, some of the organisations were involved in the 1998 terror attack in Kenya. As a remedy, he said all donors will be required to inform the government of their activities in the country and the amount of money they intend to channel to NGOs.

“Noting that NGOs are vulnerable to abuse as conduits of terrorism financing and money laundering, the board has put measures in place to curb such occurrences,” he assured.

“The board warns NGOs that could be used for criminal activities that decisive legal action will be taken against them.”

He added: “We are going to have a database very soon that will see real time movement of money in collaboration with other government agencies so that when we see suspicious amount of money moving from one account to another, then that is the time we are going to do the arrest at the earliest time.”

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The board has also de-registered 510 organisations for non-compliance with the requirement of filing their annual reports and audited accounts, and also frozen their bank accounts.

He said the board is now in the process of repossessing their assets with a view of re-distributing them to other organisations pursuing similar charitable objectives.

“There are some organisations being operated as charitable institutions contrary to section 22 (1) of the NGOs Coordination Act. These organisations should know that they are committing an offence punishable under the law. The board is asking such organisations to comply with the law or face prosecution,” he warned.

According to the State House website, the following is a list of 540 NGOs that have been de-registered.

 

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