The government through the Asset Recovery Agency (ARA)  has impounded a luxury Bentley Bentayaga vehicle at the Mombasa Port after the discovery of a money laundering scheme that was behind the acquisition of the car.

The vehicle valued at Kshs 29 million was imported by a Congolese businessman identified as Jean-Paul Tshikangu Musangu, who is no stranger to money laundering allegations, and the ARA filed a suit at the High Court seeking its seizure.

“Investigations have established that Mr Musangu, his company Groupe Elykia Limited and his partner Venan Mabiala, executed a complex scheme of money laundering,” said the agency.

The court was asked to declare the vehicle a proceed of crime as well as have the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) transfer the vehicle's ownership to the agency pending further investigations.

This was tabled by the agency's lawyer Mohammed Adow, who  revealed that the vehicle was flagged awaiting registration at the port.

“There is evidence that the motor vehicle held by the businessman is a direct benefit of crime and money laundering and unless it is forfeited to the government, they will continue to enjoy ill-gotten wealth,” Adow stated.

This is the second time Musangu is under the radar of the ARA, as he and his business partner were accused of money laundering in a another suit filed by the agency in April, where it sought to recover Kshs 290 million after establishing that it was acquired under mysterious circumstances that the duo failed to explain.

ARA investigator Fredrick Musyoki stated they received intelligence reports in December last year about complex money laundering schemes and the acquisition of proceeds of crime committed by the businessmen.

Musyoki  led investigations which unearthed huge deposits in the traders' bank accounts, further revealing that the lump sum amounts were from foreign jurisdictions with the sources of the funds concealed.

“An analysis of the bank statement of their company Groupe Elykia Limited established that it had USD1,747,105 (Kshs 199,082,614) from suspicious funds in a complex scheme of money laundering,” the investigator stated.

This led to the summoning of the businessmen to explain their sources of their funds, to which they claimed that they were involved in timber exportation through the company, but there was no evidence to prove it.

Musyoki added that the businessmen were posing as fake wood suppliers from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and used the company to conceal their dealings and money laundering, as no tax records showed their involvement in the timber exportation business.