Report reveals a network of front companies and shell entities masking Wagner’s commercial expansion in Sudan and Central Africa
Unearthed: How Wagner’s Mining Operations Entangled With Global Systems, 24 September 2024
Private Military Company (PMC) Wagner’s early mining operations in Sudan and the Central African Republic (CAR) stemmed from its deep integration into legitimate global financial, transportation, and logistics networks. To move money and goods, PMC Wagner took advantage of international systems of finance, transportation, and logistics, relying on large Western intermediary banks and global shipping companies as crucial components of its operations. By operating through a variety of international and local intermediaries, PMC Wagner enmeshed itself in licit systems undetected...
This convergence between licit and illicit systems reveals key nodes where law enforcement and regulatory bodies should concentrate future efforts to disrupt PMC Wagner’s ongoing mining operations...By cutting off access to the intermediaries that make these kinds of transactions possible, organizations like PMC Wagner will be cut out of the global financial system they depend on to generate revenue...
We identified key areas of convergence that warrant closer scrutiny as PMC Wagner’s mining operations in Africa evolve Key takeaways include:
- PMC Wagner’s early mining activities in Sudan and CAR were the function of a nexus between licit and illicit systems. To facilitate its early exploitation of natural resources...
- Intermediary banks and shipping companies formed crucial linkages between PMC Wagner’s early mining activities and the wider international economic system...
- Financial institutions, shipping companies, and freight forwarders have a key role to play in due diligence to close the channels that PMC Wagner exploits to pursue its financial goals...