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The management of RemX Capital, a B2B service provider, has reacted to allegations of money laundering and corruption levelled against the company.
The Nation newspaper in Kenya had reported that two Nigerian Fintech tycoons affiliated with the company, Eghosasere Nehikhare and Bukunmi Olufemi Demuren, and another Nigerian, are being investigated by the Kenyan government and Interpol for a string of suspicious transfers of $221 million (N128 billion) from Nigeria.
Back story
- Reports emerged in Kenyan media accusing Nigerian businessmen of being involved in a SH25.6 billion ($220.9 million) in wired transactions that took place between October and November 2020.
- According to reports, the Nigerians are suspected of transferring money to bank accounts of several Kenyan shell companies ostensibly owned by them.
- A total sum of Sh25.6 billion was wired from Nigeria to Kenya from where some of the funds were now moved to Europe and Asia.
- The case is reported as being investigated by the Interpol, Kenyan Asset Recovery Agency which has a mission to recover stolen assets and proceeds of crime on behalf of the people of Kenya.
The statement sent to the newsroom reads as follow:
PUBLIC NOTICE REGARDING REMX AND ITS RELATED COMPANIES
It has come to our attention that articles have been published by certain media platforms, making allegations of money laundering and corruption against our Company (and related Companies), Directors and elected officials.
These articles have been picked up by more Nigerian and Kenyan news websites. These allegations are speculative, wrong, and defamatory. These articles have used unrelated facts and conjecture to create a narrative that is fictitious, with no proof provided by these journalists.
ABOUT THE COMPANIES:
To clarify,
RemX is a Multi-Currency Treasury Management Start-up company, the first of its kind. It is aimed at solving cross-border currency challenges, experienced by companies operating in different African markets. RemX is purely B2B (Business-to-Business) service provider. Hence, we only provide services to corporate and not individual customers. We also do not provide services to Politically-Exposed-Persons (PEPs).
OIT: is an online remittance collection company that partners with licensed remittance companies to enable marketing expansion and collection capability.
Multigate: This is an extremely high growth Fintech company that serves mainly banks and large enterprise corporate. Licensed as a Payment Solution Service Provider (PSSP) and International Money Transfer Operator (IMTO), our services are powered by our cutting-edge Fintech products: OmniVue and BoltSend.
OmniVue is a treasury and cash management product for corporate. It allows corporatesto view all their account balances on one dashboard, access their bank statements in an aggregated display and make payments from any of their bank accounts.
This product is powered by SWIFT, as we are the first Fintech in Africa to provide SWIFT to corporate. Bolt Send is a cross-border remittance product solely for banks and financial institutions (inclusive of Fintechs). Bolt Send provides deep access to local currency liquidity in various African markets, thus enabling financial institutions to execute their cross-border needs without over-exposing their currency position. These companies are high growth start-ups run by professional founders, whose backgrounds are not affiliated with any political movement.
ALLEDGE POLITICAL AFFILIATION:
The founders of Multigate, RemX and every company mentioned in these articles do not know and have no relationships or affiliations to any politician in Nigeria, Kenya or in any of the markets we operate in. These articles also make an issue of the fact that the commissioning of one of our offices by the government, suggests an improper relationship.
Please note that the government promotes Nigerian entrepreneurs, and it is a well-known fact that over 100 Commissioning have been conducted over the last 7 years. To suggest an untoward relationship of political affiliations because of this, without any sort of proof is unfortunate and unprofessional. The articles have also attempted to tie a series of stakeholder engagements with government representatives which is common anywhere in the world, to improper activity without any proof of such and how they connect to our companies.
ALLEGATIONS OF MONEY LAUNDERING:
Our companies mentioned above, routinely move funds legally and internationally in large amounts to perform its services and these articles have sought to isolate a number of transfers without providing supporting evidence of money laundering.
The mere fact that large amounts of money are moved by our businesses does not make it money laundering and demonstrates a lack of understanding of our business model. We would have been happy to explain this to the journalists however, in a surprising breach of journalistic responsibility, neither of these publications reached out to us for comments or clarification.
There was no money laundering involved. Rather, these companies engaged solely in treasury management and currency hedging services to corporate clients that work indifferent African markets. Contrary to the articles claim, all money received by RemX are from electronic payment processing and settlement of corporate client funds which are legitimate businesses in Kenya, Nigeria and worldwide.
The fact that we have multiple companies operating in different countries does not make this a money laundering operation and while the articles have gone to great lengths to show common ownership, which is public knowledge, they did not apply this same diligence to providing any evidence of money laundering.
INTERPOL:
Please note that prior to these articles and at this time, we have no knowledge of an Interpol Investigation, neither have we being contacted or interrogated. As a company, our purpose is to simplify transactions across multiple jurisdictions.
We exist to make financial inclusion efficient. Kenya and Nigeria remain key markets in our operations, and we are positive about the outlook of our business model, not only in these countries but across Africa and the globe.
SIGNED: EXECUTIVE MANAGEMENT