Africa Academy, Germany-Italy-Kenya-OECD agreement

Rome - Germany, Italy, Kenya and the OECD have signed a declaration of intent to launch a pilot program that will establish the Africa Academy for Tax and Financial Crime Investigation in Kenya. The goal is to strengthen the capacity of investigators in tackling illicit financial flows by training them in the field of tax and financial crime in Africa. The agreement was signed as part of the Africa Partnership Conference held in Berlin on June 13, 2017.

The pilot program will cover two series of training courses aimed at improving the skills of investigators in assessing and investigating tax and financial crimes, including money laundering and corruption. The first course will be held from June 26 to July 7, 2017 at the Kenya Monetary School of Studies in Nairobi and will be aimed at 30 administration officials from six countries in the East African Community: Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, the United Republic of Tanzania and Uganda. The second pilot course, instead, will be open to all African countries.

For Italy, the declaration was signed by the Director General of the Treasury, Vincenzo la Via, on behalf of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and of the Ministry of Economy and Finance. As stated by the Ministry of Economy and Finance, Italy has agreed to provide financial contribution for the launch of the pilot program, also providing the technical know-how and experience gained within the framework of the OECD International Academy for Tax Crime Investigation. The latter has been active since 2014 at the headquarters of the Scuola di Polizia Tributaria della Guardia di Finanza in Ostia, which trains investigators on tax and financial crimes from developing countries.

Moreover, the German Minister for International Cooperation will fund the Africa Academy and provide staff with excellent technical expertise. The Kenya Revenue Agency will take charge of the logistic and administrative aspects, whereas the OECD will help determine the content of the pilot program and will take care of selecting the participants and implementing the training courses. This initiative is an important contribution to strengthen, at an international level, the ability to fight tax evasion and financial crimes, which take away considerable resources also from developing countries, especially in Africa.