US claims to have provided Ksh.11 billion last year to help Kenya host refugees

WASHINGTON, USA

The United States of America government says it has been financially supporting Kenya to host refugees and asylum seekers from other African countries including Somalia, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Ethiopia among others.

According to communication from the US State department, Kenya was given nearly $106 million (approximately Ksh.11 billion) for refugee protection and humanitarian assistance last year.

“The U.S. has provided nearly $106 million for refugee protection and humanitarian assistance to help Kenya as it provides regional leadership by hosting refugees and asylum seekers from Somalia, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, and elsewhere,” says the State department.

On matters security, the US State department says it contributed Ksh.1.7 billion (USD17 million) for counter terrorism law enforcement assistance in Kenya and that it has been providing Ksh.100 million every year for training and education assistance to the Kenya Defense Forces.

To help Kenya combat the COVID-19 pandemic, the US government disclosed that to date it has provided more than Ksh.2.3 billion (USD23 million) in overall health and humanitarian assistance to combat the pandemic and lessen economic impacts.

These details emerged as President Uhuru Kenyatta on Tuesday at State House, Nairobi held bilateral talks with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

During the virtual meeting, President Kenyatta and Secretary Blinken discussed trade and investment opportunities, touching on the untapped potential held by the Kenya-US Free Trade Agreement (FTA).

Also discussed was Kenya’s elevated role in regional peace and security as a member of the UN Security Council. Other matters discussed by President Kenyatta and Secretary Blinken were human rights, refugees, health and climate change.

On climate change, President Kenyatta applauded the US for rejoining the Paris Agreement and congratulated President Joe Biden for convening the recent Leaders’ Summit which sought to consolidate global solidarity on the matter.

Once again, President Kenyatta affirmed Kenya’s commitment to strengthening its bilateral ties and forging a strong partnership with the United States of America.

President Kenyatta was accompanied to the meeting by Foreign Affairs CS Raychelle Omamo and Head of Public Service Dr Joseph Kinyua.

South Sudan at risk of return to 'large-scale conflict' - UN report

NEW YORK, USA

A United Nations report warned Monday that the slow implementation of a revitalised peace accord in South Sudan is putting the country at risk of relapse into a "large-scale conflict."

In light of recent calls for the country's leaders to step down, UN experts in charge of overseeing sanctions and an arms embargo said that "urgent engagement is needed to avert a return to large-scale conflict."

In the document, which was recently submitted to the Security Council, the experts called for "renewed momentum from regional and international partners to de-escalate the growing security and political fractures in South Sudan."

The experts also called for the arms embargo, which is set to expire at the end of May, to be kept in place and for new sanctions against those hindering implementation of the revived 2018 peace Agreement and obstructing the delivery of humanitarian aid. 

The experts also called for an independent assessment of how the government is managing its arms stockpiles.

"Since February 2020, the slow pace of reforms by the Government of South Sudan and its selective implementation of the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan has hindered improvements in the protection of civilians and prospects for long-term peace," the report said.

More than a year of political disputes over how to implement the renewed peace accord "has widened existing political, military and ethnic divisions in the country," the experts said.

Those disputes had triggered "multiple incidents of violence between the two main signatories," the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), led by President Salva Kiir and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-Army in Opposition, led by Vice-President Riek Machar.

As a result, the people of South Sudan "are in need of humanitarian assistance in 2021 than ever before," the report said.

"Despite the humanitarian needs of 8.5 million people, the Government has imposed bureaucratic barriers to the delivery of humanitarian aid, and ongoing conflict has prevented its safe delivery," it added.

South Sudan suffered six years of bloodshed that cost nearly 400,000 lives and drove four million people from their homes before the conflict officially ended with the creation of a power-sharing national unity government in February 2020. - AFP

Burundi begins releasing prisoners in bid to stop overcrowding

BUJUMBURA, Burundi

Burundi freed some 1,300 prisoners on Monday at the beginning of a presidential pardon, which aims to free up overcrowded jails.

At a prison in Bujumbura, almost 1,000 inmates left their cells at a ceremony attended by President Evariste Ndayishimiye.

A total of 5,255 inmates, 40 percent of Burundi's prison population, will be released in the coming weeks. 3,000 will be imminently released and another 2,000 will have their sentences cut.

“In our country, what has crippled us is a lot of crimes, offenses committed that the state has not sanctioned so that some people have thought that committing a crime is a sign of bravery," said President Ndayishimiye, warning detainees against a relapse.

"The blood crimes of the past have their roots there when people see that killing is not a crime."

The detainees, including those arrested in 2015 following the demonstrations against the third term of the late President Nkurunziza, say they are relieved.

They also thanked Ndayishimiye and hope that others will have the same chance.

"I feel happy because this is the first time that a president has come to free the prisoners himself," said former prisoner Kabura Muhamed who was one of the beneficiaries.

"Even in our families, they have already had this good news. It’s joy. God bless him for this act. I was imprisoned in 2016 for political motives."

Total suspends $20 billion gas project in Mozambique indefinitely

MAPUTO, Mozambique

French energy giant Total SE suspended its $20 billion liquefied natural gas project in Mozambique indefinitely due to an escalation of violence in the area, including a March attack by Islamic State-linked militants.

The decision is a blow to Total, which bought an operating stake in the project for $3.9 billion in 2019, hoping to start exporting the super-chilled fuel by the end of 2024.

The first phase of the project is designed to produce over 13 million tons of LNG a year.

Total was resuming work on the project last month, after it was stalled since January because of security threats, as more than 100 rebels raided the town of Palma nearby the site. Dozens of people died, millions of dollars of property was damaged and the company immediately froze plans to resume the project.

The worsening security situation is also a major setback for Mozambique, which is facing a rising death toll with hundreds of thousands of people displaced. Exports of the fuel could help transform the economy of one of the world’s poorest nations.

The fresh violence in the north of the Cabo Delgado province “leads Total, as operator of Mozambique LNG project, to declare force majeure,” the company said in a statement on Monday. That’s “the only way to best protect the project interest, until work can resume.” Project finance remains in effect and “Mozambique LNG has agreed with lenders to temporarily pause the debt drawdown,” Total said.

The force majeure gives Total “a lot of breathing room” with the construction companies and buyers of the gas, while increasing pressure on the Mozambican government to resolve the security situation, said Darias Jonker, Africa director at Eurasia Group. That will take community engagement as well as intelligence resources to remove the insurgency, he said. “Overall the downward trajectory of the situation continues.”

Force majeure is a provision that allows parties to suspend or end contracts because of events that are beyond their control, such as wars or natural disasters.

Contracts for site activities have been temporarily suspended, including that of the CCS JV, a joint venture between McDermott International Ltd., Saipem SpA and Chiyoda Corp., Carlos Zacarias, chairman of Mozambique’s National Petroleum Institute, said at a press conference in Maputo. Some of the agreements could be terminated depending on how long work is delayed.

The project had gained momentum as Total acquired the operator stake from Anadarko Petroleum Corp. two years ago. The company was making progress on early construction, including an airport along with accommodations for workers. Simultaneously an insurgency was rising in Cabo Delgado province.

A village in Cabo Delgado province

The Mozambican state had been hoping to reap nearly $100 billion in revenue over 25 years from LNG projects. Earlier delays have already caused the International Monetary Fund to scale back its economic growth forecasts for the nation.

Yields on Mozambique’s $900 million of Eurobonds due 2031 rose five basis points on Monday to 10.47%, widening the country’s sovereign risk premium over U.S. Treasuries by seven basis points.

Mozambique LNG had completed nearly $16 billion in funding by July last year, involving several banks, despite a slowdown in energy investment as the coronavirus hammered the global economy.

Studies are being undertaken in order to determine a revised timeline for gas production, Zacarias said.

The violence has left at least 2,780 people dead, according to the Cabo Ligado website, which tracks the conflict. It’s also displaced more than 700,000 people. While the government has pledged to restore peace, attacks have grown closer to the site, resulting in the evacuation of workers.

Bowing to Pressure, Somalia's President Agrees Not to Extend Presidential Term

MOGADISHU, Somalia

Somalia's President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed (pictured) said on Wednesday he would drop an attempt to extend his term by two years, bowing to domestic and international pressure after clashes in the capital Mogadishu split security forces along clan lines.

Hours earlier, Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble had denounced the proposed term extension and called for preparations for a new presidential election.

The president's term expired in February, but the country failed to hold elections as planned. Earlier this month, the lower house of parliament voted to extend Mohamed's four-year term by another two years. The Senate rejected the move, provoking a political crisis.

Commanders in both the police and the military had defected to the opposition, and rival factions of the security forces had fortified positions in central Mogadishu, raising fears of clashes in the heart of the city, and a security vacuum in the surrounding areas that could be exploited by al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab insurgents.

In a televised statement in the early hours of Wednesday, the president said he commended the efforts of the prime minister and other political leaders and welcomed the statements they issued calling for elections to be held without further delay. He also called for urgent discussions with the signatories to an agreement signed last September on the conduct of the elections.

The opposition, who had called on the president to resign, did not immediately respond. The president did not discuss the opposition in his speech but did denounce unnamed "individuals and foreign entities who have no aim other than to destabilize the country."

The heads of two regional states who had been staunch allies of the president had also rejected on Tuesday the proposed two-year extension of Mohamed's term. Those leaders said in statements immediately after the president's speech that they welcomed his announcement.

Mohamed's attempt to extend his term had also angered foreign donors who backed his government, hoping it would help bring stability and quash the al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab insurgency. But the proposed extension pitted factions in the security forces against each other.

The U.S. Embassy in Mogadishu tweeted support for the prime minister and the two state presidents after they issued their statement.

This week, opposition forces abandoned positions in the countryside as they headed for a showdown in the capital, allowing al-Shabab to take over at least one town.

Forces loyal to the opposition hold important parts of the city and clashed with government forces over the weekend, fueling worries the country could return to all-out war.

The unrest is the second bout of violence in Mogadishu over an extension to Mohamed's term. Continued clashes could further splinter Somali security forces along ethnic lines, said the International Crisis Group, a think tank.

"Somalia is teetering on the brink of a major breakdown once again," it said in a briefing published on Tuesday.

Mohamed is Darod, one of Somalia's major clans. Most of the Somali military in the capital are Hawiye, another large clan. Most of the opposition leaders are Hawiye.

Earlier on Tuesday, Turkish-trained Haramcad ("Cheetah") police forces raided the independent Mustaqbal Radio station, owned by a Hawiye businessman, and confiscated equipment. Somalia's fledgling armed forces are drawn from clan militias who have often battled each other for power and resources.

Internal Security Minister Hassan Hundubey Jimale told a news conference that government forces had been restrained to avoid harming civilians. He also said, without providing evidence, that "thieves" were breaking into houses and killing people.

The African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia, the United Nations mission there, and a dozen other mainly African and Western nations condemned the outbreak of violence and urged restraint.

"We are alarmed especially by the emerging fragmentation of the Somali National Army (SNA) along clan lines," a joint statement said.

Kenya selects female Court of Appeal judge for Chief Justice position

By Annette Wambulwa, NAIROBI Kenya

Kenya Judicial Services Commission acting chairperson, Prof Olive Mugenda on Tuesday announced the commission has unanimously agreed to nominate Justice Martha Koome as the next Chief Justice.

The Judiciary is now firmly run by females - acting CJ (Philomena Mwilu); Vice Chair JSC (Olive Mugenda); acting President Court of Appeal (Wanjiru Karanja); Principal Judge, High Court ( Lydia Achode ); Principal Judge, ELRC, (Maureen Onyango); Judiciary Chief Registrar (Anne Amadi); Registrar, High Court (Judy Omange); Registrar Supreme Court (Esther Nyaiyaki); Registrar JSC (Frida Mokaya).

Koome has 33 years of experience in legal practice under her belt and a significant portion of those years has been in public service as a defender of human rights.

For this, she has earned international accolades for tremendous contribution to jurisprudence in the expansion of the rule of law and defence of the vulnerable.

She is an acclaimed expert in family law and she takes a keen interest in children which earned her a recent recognition by the United Nations where she was named the UN person of the year run-up in 2020.

Mugenda declined to disclose how other candidates faired in the interviews, saying the JSC's job was to get a Chief justice and that's what was done.

Earlier, the Court of Appeal stayed the orders issued by the High Court barring the recruitment of the Chief Justice.

Justice Patrick Kiage on Tuesday said it is in the public interest that they have decided to stay the order.

Interviews scheduled for this week for the Supreme Court judge can proceed though they will behind by two days.

"The orders granted by the high court last week barring the continuation of the recruitment and appointment of the chief justice and is hereby stayed pending the hearing of this intended appeal," the court ruled.

The three-judge bench has stayed the orders saying that the High Court did not deal with the issue of jurisdiction before they issued the orders.

Speaking to the press after the ruling, Lawyer Danstan Omari representing one of the petitioners says they are not satisfied with the ruling but they cannot move to the Supreme Court.

Omari said as it is now, there are only four judges at the apex court when you remove Deputy CJ Philomena Mwilu who is at JSC and can not handle the matter.

The appellate judges who heard the case were Justices Roselyne Nambuye, Patrick Kiage and Sankale Ole Kantai.

The three judges were expected to give the ruling on Monday, however, judge Roselyne Nambuye said it was not ready.

The court had on Monday morning heard the appeal filed by the JSC and AG challenging the orders halting the Chief Justice recruitment.

The commission was seeking to suspend the orders issued by the High Court last week halting the recruitment.

The JSC had warned there will be a constitutional crisis if the selection of the CJ and a Supreme Court judge is not concluded.

It had asked the Court of Appeal to quash the decision halting the recruitment process.

Last Friday, JSC chair Prof Olive Mugenda said the commission would not conduct interviews for the Supreme Court judge that were scheduled for this week because of the orders.

The commission has also been barred from deliberating on the suitability of the 10 candidates interviewed for the CJ position.

On Monday, Justices Juma Chitembwe and Martha Koome were to be interviewed for the position of Supreme Court judge.

JSC argued that if the orders are not set aside there will be a legal vacuum especially in the process of recruiting the Chief Justice.

The four petitioners on their part challenged Mugenda position as chair of the commission during the interview.

They further claim that commissioner Paul Gichuhi retired from public service and is illegally sitting in the commission.

Two dead, 27 hurt as Chad protesters demand civilian rule

N’DJAMENA, Chad

At least two people were killed and 27 injured in Chad on Tuesday as demonstrators took to the streets demanding a return to civilian rule after the military took control following President Idriss Deby’s death last week.

Tensions have risen in Chad following Deby’s death and the military transition is struggling to win over a population exhausted by 30 years of monolithic, autocratic rule.

A health official at a hospital in the capital N’Djamena, who requested anonymity, confirmed the death of a man in his 20s who was brought into the emergency ward along with 27 other people injured during Tuesday’s protests.

Witnesses also reported the death of another protester in Moundou, Chad’s second largest city.

A spokesman for the ruling military council said security forces were attempting to contain the protesters while limiting material damage.

The military council seized power after Deby was killed as he visited troops fighting rebels on April 19.

Some opposition politicians have called the military takeover a coup and asked supporters to protest, even as the army appointed a civilian politician, Albert Pahimi Padacke, as prime minister of a transitional government on Monday.

The military council banned protests in a statement on Monday evening, saying no demonstrations that could lead to disorder were allowed while the country was still in mourning.

Headed by Deby’s son Mahamat Idriss Deby, who was declared president, the military council has said it will oversee an 18-month transition to elections.

“We do not want our country to become a monarchy,” said 34-year-old protester Mbaidiguim Marabel. “The military must return to the barracks to make way for a civilian transition.”

Trucks loaded with soldiers were seen patrolling the streets around central N’Djamena.

“The police came, they fired tear gas. But we are not scared,” said Timothy Betouge, age 70.

Police responded with tear gas as protesters burned tires in several neighborhoods of N’Djamena early on Tuesday. A Reuters witness said firefighters struggled to contain a blaze which was large enough to be seen from far away.

The council is coming under international pressure to hand over power to civilians as soon as possible. The African Union has expressed “grave concern” about the military takeover, while France, the former colonial ruler, and some of Chad’s neighbors are pushing for a civilian-military solution.

Anti-French sentiment was running high among the protesters, who blamed France for having backed the Deby regime against the will of the people. Posts on social media showed protesters burning a French flag.

Reuters reporters in N’Djamena were repeatedly berated by protesters who assumed they were French and told them to “go back to France.” The reporters saw businesses with French connections, such as a Total fuel station, being targeted by protesters.

Deby’s death came as Chad’s military battles an insurrection by Libya-based rebels known as the Front for Change and Concord in Chad (FACT). The rebels came as close as 200-300 km (125-185 miles) from N’Djamena before being pushed back by the army.

Chad’s military council rejected an offer from the rebels for peace talks on Sunday, calling them “outlaws” who needed to be tracked down and arrested for their role in Deby’s death.

In Africa, COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy adds to slow rollout of doses

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa

Some Africans are hesitating to get COVID-19 vaccines amid concerns about their safety, alarming public health officials as some countries start to destroy thousands of doses that expired before use.

Malawi and South Sudan in recent days have said they will destroy some of their doses, a concerning development on a continent where health officials have been outspoken about the need for vaccine equity as the world’s rich nations hold the bulk of shots.

Africa, whose 1.3 billion people represent 16 per cent of the world’s population, has received less than 2 per cent of the COVID-19 vaccine doses administered around the world, according to the World Health 0rganisation (WHO).

The continent has confirmed more than 4.5 million COVID-19 cases, including 120,000 deaths, a tiny fraction of the global fatalities and caseload. But some experts worry that the 54-nation continent will suffer in the long term if it takes longer than expected to meet the threshold scientists believe is needed to stop uncontrolled spread of COVID-19 — 70 per cent or higher of the population having immunity through vaccination or past infection.

Achieving that goal will require about 1.5 billion vaccine doses for Africa if the two-shot AstraZeneca vaccine continues to be widely used. But safety concerns relating to that vaccine, often the main shot available under the donor-backed COVAX programme to ensure access for developing countries, have left some Africans worried.

Vaccine-related suspicions have been spread widely on social media, driven partly by a general lack of trust in authorities. Uganda’s health minister had to refute allegations she faked receiving a shot, even posting a video of herself getting the jab on Twitter, along with the admonition: “Please stop spreading fake news!”

Some have raised the untrue claim that the shots can cause infertility on sites such as WhatsApp. Others openly question the speed with which COVID-19 vaccines have been developed.

“The world has failed to find a vaccine for AIDS all these years, but they quickly found a vaccine for COVID? I am not going to go for that vaccine,” said Richard Bbale, an electrician in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, voicing fear that an experimental vaccine could be harmful. “Even if the government forces us to get the vaccine as if it’s a national ID, I will not go.”

Austin Demby, Sierra Leone’s health minister, told reporters last week that a third of the 96,000 doses the country received in March will likely not be used before they expire, citing a lack of urgency among some people who decided that COVID-19 is “not as bad as Ebola,” which ravaged the country several years ago.

“People are worried this is another public experiment they want to make on our people,” he said.

WHO and the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have urged African governments to continue rolling out the AstraZeneca vaccine, saying its benefits outweigh any risks after European countries limited its use over concerns about rare blood clots in a small number of recipients.

“Anything you take has a risk. Any medication,” Africa CDC director John Nkengasong told a briefing last week, citing some essential drugs that can cause blood clots in rare cases. “That’s the way we should be looking at these vaccines.”

The Africa CDC said in a statement last week it had received guidance from the Serum Institute of India recommending a three-month “shelf life extension” on the April 13 expiration date of at least a million AstraZeneca shots delivered to Africa.

Africa nations “don’t have a choice,” Nkengasong said, urging Malawi to use all its shots after authorities in the southern African nation said they would burn 16,000 AstraZeneca doses that expired earlier in April.

It is unclear if Malawi will follow that advice.

The country has administered less than half of more than 500,000 doses it received via COVAX, leading Victor Mithi, head of the Society of Medical Doctors in Malawi, to blame vaccine misconceptions.

“We are continuously assuring Malawians that the vaccine is safe and that once they feel anything abnormal beyond the usual post-vaccination symptoms, they can always come to the hospital and report,” he said.

An additional 1.26 million doses expected from COVAX at the end of May may be wasted if people continue shunning the vaccine, said Shouts Simeza, president of the National Organisation of Nurses and Midwives in Malawi, adding that a possible solution is making vaccinations mandatory for all who are eligible.

Trying to increase coverage, Malawi’s government has relaxed vaccine eligibility rules to include everyone aged 18 and older after initially focusing on priority groups such as health workers.

The East African nation of Uganda, which also is struggling to increase vaccine rollout among priority groups, may soon act similarly, said Emmanuel Ainebyoona, spokesman for the Ministry of Health. Ugandans under age 50 have shown interest in getting vaccinated, raising hope that doses will not expire unused, he said.

Uganda has received 964,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, the only one available in the country. But just over 230,000 doses have been administered since March 10.

Health authorities had planned to give at least 500,000 people their first shot in a first round of vaccinations targeting front-line workers, people with underlying health conditions and those 50 and older.

But, amid a slow rollout, they are now reaching out to popular “influencers,” celebrities such as a kickboxer who was photographed getting a shot last week.

“The uptake is gradually improving,” Ainebyoona said, noting that “communications interventions” have proved necessary to get more Ugandans to embrace the vaccination campaign.

A few thousand people are inoculated daily at centers put up across the country, including inside regional hospitals. The local Daily Monitor newspaper recently reported that more than 280,000 doses will likely expire by July at the current average of about 6,000 shots used each day.

Vaccination teams, lacking official records of eligible residents, simply sit and wait for people who may not show up.

UK government imposes sanctions on 22 people accused of serious corruption

LONDON, UK

The UK has imposed sanctions on 22 people accused of serious corruption in Russia, South Africa and four other nations in the first use of a new tool to fight corrupt activities globally.

Those targeted include 14 individuals allegedly involved in a major tax fraud uncovered by Russian lawyer and whistleblower Sergei Magnitsky; three brothers linked to a corruption case in South Africa; and a Sudanese businessman widely known as "Al Cardinal".

Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary, said he wanted to hold the corrupt to account anywhere on the planet and to stop them from "using the UK as a haven for dirty money".

"You cannot come here. You cannot hide your money here," he told parliament.

The foreign secretary said the case of Mr Magnitsky helped to inspire the new Global Anti-Corruption sanctions regime - similar to sanctioning powers used by the United States and Canada.

The lawyer was arrested in Russia in 2008 after a corruption investigation he had conducted linked a number of Russian officials to tax fraud.

He died in prison the following year.

A human rights commission found signs the 37-year-old had been beaten.

"His courage was not in vain," Mr Raab told MPs.

The United States commended the new UK sanctions policy.

Antony Blinken, the Secretary of State, wrote on Twitter: "Together, along with other allies and partners who seek to promote our shared values with similar tools, we will ensure corrupt actors will not have access to our financial systems."

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said its first wave of anti-corruption sanctions would target those "involved in the diversion of $230 million of Russian state property through a fraudulent tax refund scheme uncovered by Sergei Magnitsky - one of the largest tax frauds in recent Russian history".

Among other people on the list were brothers Atul, Ajay and Rajesh Gupta and a South African associate called Salim Essa.

The foreign office said: "They were at the heart of a long-running process of corruption in South Africa which caused significant damage to its economy."

They have all previously denied allegations of corruption.

Another being hit with a travel ban and asset freeze is Sudanese businessman Ashraf Seed Ahmed Hussein Ali, widely known as Al Cardinal.

The UK said this was "for his involvement in the misappropriation of significant amounts of state assets in one of the poorest countries in the world".

It added: "This diversion of resources in collusion with South Sudanese elites has contributed to ongoing instability and conflict".

Finally, the UK slapped sanctions on three people accused of serious corruption in Honduras, Nicaragua and Guatemala, including facilitating bribes to support a major drug trafficking cartel.

One of those named - Guatemalan Felipe Alejos Lorenzana - was also sanctioned by the United States on Monday in an apparently coordinated move.

"Corruption is not a victimless crime," Mr Raab said.

"By enriching themselves, these people have caused untold damage and hardship on the countries and communities which they exploited for their own predatory greed."

He added: "More designations will follow in due course."

The foreign office said more than 2% of global GDP is lost to corruption every year, and that corruption increases the cost of doing business for individual companies by as much as 10%.

Corrupt activities also pose a risk to the UK's national security by exacerbating conflict and creating space for terrorist groups like Islamic State and Boko Haram to operate. 

It is hoped the new regulations will have a secondary impact by reducing dirty money in the city of London.

The anti-corruption effort follows a sanctions regime to punish human rights offenders that was unveiled last summer.

It has already been used against 78 individuals and entities from countries including Russia, China, Saudi Arabia and North Korea.