Even though wildlife criminals the world over use money-laundering techniques to disguise the origin of their proceeds, there is only one case in South Africa in which money laundering related to poaching is being investigated.
In December 2022, nine of their relatives were arrested on money laundering charges, after the rangers’ bribery payments were allegedly funnelled through their family members’ bank accounts. Corruption in the whole wildlife chain, the Wildlife Justice Commission said, could include – among other things – the bribery of rangers to provide information to poachers, the involvement of government officials in stockpile theft and embezzlement, the bribery of customs officials to facilitate the safe passage of shipments, the use of fraudulent export and import documents, and bribery to secure bail and release from custody.
“There are reported estimates that up to 40% of Kruger National Park’s law enforcement staff could be aiding poaching networks or be involved in corruption in some way; and some estimate that figure could even be as high as 70%,” the report said.The report said that corruption facilitated the poaching, transportation, processing and sale of illegal wildlife products at every step of the global supply chain, from source location to destination market.
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Source: City_Press - 🏆 7. / 72 Read more »