Another Kenyan Betting Firm, MozzartBet, is under Probe following suspicious Cash Transfers

Yet another Kenyan betting firm has come under probe by the Assets Recovery Agency barely a month after the same fate befell SportPessa. This time, the scrutiny is on MozzartBet which allegedly transferred more than Sh600 million to an account belonging to a business entity identified as Kimaco Connections.

According to court documents seen by Business Daily Africa, Kenya’s Assets Recovery Agency succeeded in flagging part of the transfers which were made separately between February and August this year.

The Agency is questioning the source of that money, meaning that it does not believe that the huge cash transfers were the proceeds of bet wins. Meanwhile, MozzartBet had since explained that the monies were transferred as payment to Kimaco Connections following the acquisition of a “software” which Kimaco Connections had sub-contracted to another firm called Open Skies Management Services.

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Now, the intriguing part of the story is that part of the funds (about Sh242 million) was wired to  Open Skies Management Services by Peter Kiilu, the owner of Kimaco Connections. Also, Open Skies Management Services is owned by Emmanuel Charumbira, a Zimbabwean businessman who is also a major shareholder at MozzartBet.

Meanwhile, series of transfers, coupled with the difficulty in establishing the origin of the funds, had worried the Assets recovery Agency. The Agency had also dismissed MozzartBet’s explanation for making the transfers, and is now seeking to confiscate the money.

“That Mr Peter Kiilu did not avail the agreement or contracts he alluded to in his recorded statement between Mozzartbet Kenya Ltd and Kimaco Connections and Kimaco Connections and Open Skies Management Services… Preliminary investigations have established that the respondents through its directors, representatives or agents were involved in a complex scheme of money laundering activities involving several entities and companies,” said Stephen Githinji, a prosecutor attached to ARA,” the Agency said in court documents.