Sunday, November 03, 2013
African piracy netted more than $400 million in ransom payments over a
seven-year period, said a U.N. report calling for a task force to find
the financiers.The report, written by the World Bank and the United
Nations, said money raised from piracy is used to fund other criminal
activities, the BBC reported Friday.
Between 2005 and 2012, piracy
raised between $339 million and $413 million in ransoms, but little of
the money actually goes to the pirates who seize ships traveling off the
Horn of Africa, said the report, titled "Pirate Trails."
People
who provide the money for the ransom operations get 30 to 50 percent of
what is paid in ransom, while the "foot soldiers" get a standard fee
that amounts to about 0.1 percent of the total ransom.
The
financiers invest the ransom money in both legal businesses and illegal
activities, moving the money through smuggling, money laundering and
wire transfers, the report said.
Stuart Yikona, the report's
co-author, said money that flows from piracy "has the power to corrupt
the regional and international economy."
The report recommended
improvements in cross-border controls, regional cooperation and the
monitoring of money gained from piracy.
"The international
community has mobilized a naval force to deal with the pirates," Yikona
said. "A similarly managed multinational effort is needed to disrupt and
halt the flow of illicit money that circulates in the wake of their
activities."
Piracy increases the cost of global trade about $18
billion a year, the United Nations said in a statement. It also has
caused declines in tourism and fishing in East African countries since
2006.
The report was compiled from interviews with former pirates,
government officials, bankers and others involved in fighting piracy.
It focused on the countries of Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Seychelles and
Somalia.