Unearthed
As the Wagner Group established early mining operations in Sudan and the Central African Republic, it funneled payments for equipment and supplies through banks in Africa, China, the United Kingdom, and the United States, and used established global shipping routes to move goods.
Executive Summary #
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.
To this end, C4ADS examined the critical intersections between PMC Wagner’s early gold mining activities and legitimate financial, transportation, and logistics networks. In doing so, 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, the internationally sanctioned organization relied on a network of financial services and transportation networks to move supplies and generate revenue.
- 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. This is especially important when dealing with the intersection of Russian entities and local African companies.
