Christopher Vincent Kinahan, Christopher Kinahan,Jr and Daniel Joseph Kinahan, suspected members of the alleged Kinahan cartel, as published by the US Department of State. (Photos: Supplied) 
Gold smugglers. Drug traffickers. Aspects of aviation and international boxing.
These are just some of the conduits a global gang is suspected of using to generate and wash dirty money across continents and countries, including South Africa.
Through piecing together details gleaned intermittently and in various ways, Daily Maverick has established just how enmeshed this country was (or is) in the notorious cartel’s alleged activities.
This bigger picture comes as South Africa is closer to finding out if it has tightened its grip enough on dodgy financial flows, such as terror funding activities, to be removed from a global greylist.
/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/ISS-Today-pic-1.jpg "SA's ongoing struggle to shake off the Financial Action Task Force's grey list due to money laundering and terrorist financing issues raises questions about political will. (Photo: Financial Action Task Force)")
Away from grey
If this happens, it will go towards improving the country’s reputation in terms of cracking down on shadowy money crimes.
Along with local criminals, many transnational organised crime groups operate in and via South Africa, and money laundering is obviously a critical part of these networks.
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) greylisted South Africa in February 2023, which saw this country adopting an action plan to remedy the situation.
In June this year, the FATF found that “South Africa has substantially completed” this plan.
/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/caryn-irish-mafia-SA-MAIN.jpg "The reward posters for suspected members of the alleged Kinahan cartel, as published by the USDepartment of State. (Photo: Supplied)")
And at the end of July, the FATF’s Africa Joint Group conducted an on-site assessment in Pretoria to ensure critical measures were met and that political commitment had not waned.
A National Treasury statement on this said: “The FATF Africa Joint Group will submit a report to the October 2025 FATF Plenary, which will consider any recommendations from the report on whether South Africa can be delisted from the FATF greylist.”
The National Treasury would comment further only after the FATF finished its plenary meeting on 24 October “and issues its post-plenary outcomes media statement”.
/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Clash_Of_Cartels_Header.jpg "'Clash of the Cartels' by Caryn Dolley book cover. (Photo: Daily Maverick)")
‘Threat to entire licit economy’
Beneath all this, there are stubborn suspicions about local and global crime groups pushing dirty money through South Africa.
This is where the Kinahan cartel fits in.
The United States previously warned that the cartel trafficked “deadly narcotics” and was a “threat to the entire licit economy through its role in international money laundering”.
Known as the Kinahan transnational criminal organisation, it originated in Ireland and its activities have been concentrated in the United Kingdom (UK), the Netherlands, Spain and Dubai.
Read more: Cocaine, gold and money laundering – Irish cartel’s ‘fingerprints’ lifted in SA
According to US authorities, Christopher Kinahan senior, also known as “The Dapper Don”, launched the cartel in the 1990s and later involved his two sons, Daniel and Christopher junior.
Last week, Daily Maverick emails to addresses listed for Christopher Kinahan senior elicited no response.
Meanwhile, in 2020, Daniel Kinhan, who based himself in Dubai, went on record providing a statement to a UK radio platform in which he denied criminality.
The Kinahan trio are now wanted – the US has offered rewards for their arrest.
Crackdowns relating to the group have been rolling out in various countries.
Major arrest: Sean McGovern, one of Ireland’s most wanted fugitives and alleged high-ranking member of the Kinahan Organized Crime Group has been arrested in the UAE on an INTERPOL #RedNotice.
Read more🔗➡️ https://t.co/Dc65hJ66u9 pic.twitter.com/vxdhH8b0pF
— INTERPOL (@INTERPOL_HQ) October 11, 2024
In some of the latest developments, alleged Kinahan boss Sean McGovern was extradited from the United Arab Emirates to Ireland in May.
At the end of July, the UK’s National Crime Agency announced that Thomas Kavanagh, the Kinahan’s UK boss, had been ordered to pay £1.1-million after an investigation into the proceeds of crime.
A statement said: “He was jailed for 21 years in March 2022 for orchestrating the importation of multimillion-pound drug shipments worth around £30-million at UK street value.
“He also admitted being involved in the illegal trafficking of firearms and money laundering.”
Illicit gold and cigarettes
Based on various suspicions, the extensive Kinahan web pushed masses of European drug proceeds to this continent.
/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/rudzani-illigal-cigs3.jpg "File photo: A joint operations between the Hawks, SAPS, SARS. officers and SANDF soldiers discovered five men loading illicit cigarettes onto vehicles on a farm between Musina and the Beitbridge border post between SA and Zimbabwe. The cigarettes with an estimated value of 30 million rand was about to be delivered to various parts of South Africa. (Photo:Supplied)")
Some of it was used in Zimbabwe to buy illicit cigarettes and gold, as well as US dollars. Some of those purchases were moved to South Africa, where a portion of the gold was sold to a network of jewellers.
Other gold and cash were allegedly smuggled from South Africa to Dubai and, further along this chain, were used to procure more drugs.
Daily Maverick has before reported on illicit gold networks stretching from Zimbabwe to South Africa and Dubai.
Read more: All that glitters – a look into illicit gold networks
There are also suspicions that individuals linked to the Kinahan group made property investments in South Africa.
Last week, Daily Maverick asked South Africa’s Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC), which helps spot crime proceeds and dodgy money movements, if evidence of Kinahan crime cartel activity had been picked up in this country.
It responded: “The FIC is unable to confirm or deny whether [the] Kinahan Transnational Criminal Organisation… is conducting money laundering activities in South Africa.”
Various incidents and reports suggest, though, that the Kinahan cartel has been – or is – operating here.
Even if its activities have decreased because of increased international police focus, pointsmen they used may still be active in South Africa.
Information that Daily Maverick obtained suggested links between the Kinahans and an array of individuals operating via this country.
https://www.instagram.com/p/DEVrF2Vpbe8/
In January this year, Australia’s federal police announced that two suspects had been arrested in the previous month.
One was Oliver Andreas Herrmann, who authorities said was from Germany and resided in South Africa.
These arrests related to drugs – 200kg of cocaine – and involved police flagging a small aircraft at an airstrip.
Read more: Arrests in Perth reveal intricate cocaine smuggling operation with South African ties
The status of that Australian matter was not immediately clear.
A Daily Maverick query to Hermann last week via a message to a cellphone number apparently linked to him did not go through.
The Sunday Times Ireland had reported that Hermann, a marathon runner with no previous links to crime, was also “an international businessman and serial investor” with money ties to Christopher Kinahan senior.
Restaurant review clues
Last year, the online investigative journalism platform Bellingcat reported that Christopher Kinahan senior had exposed his whereabouts via posting Google reviews.
These showed he had visited countries, including South Africa, several times and had posted 16 reviews relating to the country.
An October 2021 review indicated that he was in Johannesburg. The review said: “Located at Rand Airport it was a really nice evening where we witnessed a stunning sunset as we shared drinks and discussed some business.”
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, without naming the Kinahan group, but clearly referencing it on its website, also said it had branches in more than 20 countries where the group laundered crime proceeds.
It listed most of these countries, including Belgium, France, Cyprus, Greece, Lithuania, Poland, Gibraltar, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Morocco, China, Dubai, Panama – and South Africa.
Bullets and boxing
Suspicions about how the cartel launders money go further than drugs, gold and illicit cigarettes – these extend to the boxing arena.
In April 2022, the US Treasury sanctioned the Kinahans, some of their associates and companies, including Hoopoe Sports, a UAE-based management and advisory company.
The US Department of State also issued rewards of up to $5-million each for Christopher senior and junior, and Daniel Kinahan.
Reward of up to $5,000,000.00 USD for information leading to the Financial Disruption of the Kinahan Criminal Organisation or the arrest and/or conviction of:
Daniel Kinahan
Christy Kinahan Sr
Christy Kinahan JrSubmit Tips via email to KinahanTCOTips@dea.gov pic.twitter.com/PEafbJkJ8a
— Garda Info (@gardainfo) April 12, 2022
One of the reward flyers detailed how the cartel “gained notoriety” in 2016 when a feud with its rivals, the Hutch drug trafficking gang, resulted in a shooting in a Dublin hotel.
“The brazen daytime attack targeted Daniel Kinahan during a weigh-in for an MTK Global (formerly MGM) boxing match and shocked the Irish public,” it said.
“Although Daniel escaped unharmed, the subsequent and ongoing feud has resulted in 18 homicides, encompassing nearly all members or relatives and associates of the Hutch gang.”
SA activities
MTK Global was a boxing and event promotions company and had a division established in Africa in 2019.
This is linked to South Africa – it had a gym here and represented boxers from this country.
MTK Global shut down in April 2022 after the US announced the sanctions against the Kinahans.
A statement on MTK Global’s Instagram account at the time said: “As a business, we have faced unprecedented levels of unfair scrutiny and criticism since the sanctioning by the US Government of Daniel Joseph Kinahan.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/Cckzy_chNup/
It said Daniel Kinahan’s involvement with MTK Global ceased in 2017.
There were, however, suspicions to the contrary.
In March 2023, a US firm, the Federal Practice Group, posted a statement about a podcast to its website and attributed the information to its founding partner, Eric Montalvo, who was involved in a court matter in which Daniel Kinahan was named.
It said: “[He] allegedly used MTK to launder money coming from the proceeds of crime.” (The US did not sanction MTK Global, though.)
Daily Maverick tried last week, to no avail, for comment from Montalvo about whether he suspected money had been laundered via South Africa.
Daniel Kinahan remains a wanted suspect. His name surfaced in a boxing-related court case that began in the US earlier this year. DM
This article is an Analysis, which presents a specific argument supported with evidence. The views expressed are those of the author (usually a journalist) and do not necessarily represent the views of Daily Maverick.