10 crimes that are committed by the rich

 In most cases, perpetrators of expensive crimes are rarely caught

Some crimes are very expensive. Think of the recent Sh50 million bank heist in Thika for instance. To pull it off, you need a qualified team, excavators, drills, besides investing in time and technology.

You must be knowledgeable about soil samples, blue prints of the bank’s floor plans etc. You have also got to invest in an escape plan that is police proof.  For a poor fellow, it is easier to steal kuku ya jirani for lunch. Expensive crimes require money, intelligence and detailed organisation.

In most cases, perpetrators of expensive crimes are rarely caught, and if nabbed, there are a battery of criminal lawyers to their defence. Here are 10 expensive crimes:

1.   Land grabbing

To grab land belonging to a police station, a state lodge, the army or the National Museum, means you have connections in high places and not just at ‘Lands.’

Remember the private developers who had grabbed land belonging to State House in Mombasa and went ahead to erect a hotel in 2014? Or the half-acre of Kilimani Police Station that was reported grabbed in 2016?

2. Tax evasion

Tax evasion is an economic crime. The hoi polloi are not even in the tax bracket in the first place, meaning one needs a bagful of money to successfully evade tax without attracting those nosy trackers at Kenya Revenue Authority.

But the rich can ship the best accountants (from India) to ‘cook’ books besides oiling the palms of some crooked officials at ‘Caesar’s offices’ at Times Tower.  Remember a Cabinet minister, now deceased, who paid KRA Sh10 million in undeclared taxes when he was finally sought in 2012?

3.  Voter bribery

To bribe voters to attend your political rallies, wear your T-shirts and lesos require money in magunia.  Remember the two people beaten senseless by angry Kitui voters after they were caught bribing voters at Yumbisye polling station before August 8 elections?

Bribing voters is not an investment whose returns are guaranteed, making it an electoral offence which only the rich can partake.

4. Drug trafficking

Drug trafficking requires such high risk involving splashing cash on ‘transporters’, airport officials, anti-narcotics police and even magistrates for cases to drag on for ages, but alas!

Some big fish are carted away to serve lengthy jail terms. Remember the Akashas in 2017?  

5. Treason

This involves trading in government or military secrets or supporting Al-Shabaab in times of war. Ordinary citizens can hardly come anywhere near sirikali ya serikali reserving treason.

Treason is a capital offense. Remember Hezekiah Ochuka and Pancras Okumu who were hanged in 1987 for attempting to overthrow the government on August 1, 1982? They were members of the Kenya Air Force with external backers.   

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6. Hacking

Hackers are technologically bright people who can crack passwords and get into systems at the International Criminal Court. Indeed, cybercrimes are hard to enforcers are hacker rarely leave evidence.

In two years to 2017, Kenya’s financial institutions lost Sh30 billion to hackers! That makes them rich enough to afford iron-clad defences.

7. Intellectual theft

Mohamed Ali produces Jicho Pevu, and shortly, the intellectual thieves in River Road have dubbed it for distribution throughout the country….overnight!

They infringe on copyright of not only broadcast material but also text books and songs without permission.

8. Forgery

This is an elitist crime especially when it involves forging signature to access bank accounts, title deeds or sale agreements involving millions. Others forge academic documents as evident from some aspirants in the 2018 elections…were they poor?

9.  Firearms/ivory trading

To buy a gun and get a license means you are such a worthy person who needs personal protection. The poor can use stones, sling shots etc. But to deal in illegal firearms means you know gun runners who know financiers of criminal groups etc… and only poor crooks are arrested.

To get an elephant’s tusks means escaping from Kenya Wildlife Wardens, Anti-Stock Theft Unit inside Game Reserves and the penalty when caught means rotting in Kamiti until Vision 2030.

10. Human trafficking

Poor folks talk of helping their neighbour’s Miss Mboch escape. The rich traffic young girls from North Korea and Cambodia since they can afford shipping them to wherever…and only the ‘transporter’ is caught by police.