The amount of money leaving Africa through illegal and criminal means every year has hit the 90 billion dollar mark, the UN has established.
Making the revelation Monday, the Chairman of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) High Level Panel on Illicit Outflows Thabo Mbeki said this figure had risen from US$50 billion a few years ago.
According to the findings of the Mbeki panel, the commercial sector in Africa was responsible for two thirds of the illegal outflows that ‘could be used for development’, while the remaining third is derived from criminal activities including human trafficking, corruption and drug dealing.
A report, the ‘Illicit Financial Flows and the Problem of Net Resource Transfers from Africa: 1980–2009’ indicated that Africa lost between US$1.2 trillion and US$1.4 trillion over the 29 year period, amounts that by far surpassed foreign aid during the same period.
Over the years several African leaders and their political cronies have been cited in illicit dealings involving millions of dollars, the most notable being Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire and Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbaso
Africa’s richest President Jos Eduardo Dos Santos
go of Equatorial Guinea, whose properties in the US were sanctioned. Another leader who is under the spotlight is oil-rich Angola’s long-serving President Jos Eduardo Dos Santos, whose billionaire daughter Isabel Dos Santos is reportedly the richest African woman, with a fortune that is largely stashed away in the West.
In 2013 Isabel’s wealth was estimated at US$3 billion by Forbes magazine, while that of her father, also said to be the richest man in Africa, is valued at over US$20 billion.
Other Presidents in Africa include:
- Mohammed VI of Morocco – US$2.1 billion
- Teodoro Obiang Mbasogo Nguema of Equatorial Guinea – US$600 million
- Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya – US$500 million
- Paul Biya of Cameroon – US$200 million
- King Mswati III – US$100 million
- Idriss Deby of Chad – US$50 million
- Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe – US$10 million
