Worldcoin officials grilled by DCI, company not legally registered in Kenya

The government has revealed that the now viral cryptocurrency project Worldcoin, whose operations have since been suspended, is not a legally registered entity in the country.

The State, in a joint statement issued by the ministries of Interior and National Administration as well as ICT, made the disclosure in response to queries raised by Manyatta Member of Parliament John Mukunji on the floor of the House on Wednesday.

According to the government, the foreign company outsourced its data capture services to a local company now identified as Sense Marketing, which was hence responsible for the collecting of iris data from Kenyans in return for cryptocurrency tokens worth around Ksh.7,000.

The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) on Wednesday nabbed two Worldcoin company officials in Kenya, and they’re now helping with investigations into its structure and operations.

The two are Emmanuel Otieno, who is said to be the Head of Operations, and Rael Mwende, the company’s Country Manager.

“Among the foreign nationals associated with Worldcoin, are a Mr. Poitr Piwowarczyk who is on record to have entered Kenya on several occasions, the last one being in June 2023 (Arrival – 11th June, 2023; Departure 25th June, 2023),” read the joint statement by Interior CS Kithure Kindiki and his ICT counterpart Eliud Owalo.

“Criminal investigations have commenced to establish the authenticity and legality of the aforesaid activities, the safety and protection of the data being harvested, and how the harvesters intend to use the data.”

The ministries added: “As a precautionary measure, the Immigration authorities have been directed to ensure that no persons whether Kenyan or foreign nationals associated with this entity leaves Kenya without the clearance of the Director of Criminal Investigations who is in charge of the ongoing investigations.”

The State further added that the probe will extend even to individuals involved but based outside the country through international procedures stipulated in the Mutual Legal Assistance (MLA) protocol.

It also stated that the cautionary statements issued to Kenyans through the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (ODPC) came after it was established that the company did not conduct any public participation exercise prior to commencing its operations in the country.

“The Government has commenced investigations to ensure that Worldcoin complies with the data collection, storage and sharing principles. Immediate mitigation steps being undertaken are constitution of a multi-agency team comprising of security, financial services and data protection agencies [which] have commenced inquiries and investigations to establish the legality of the activities of Worldcoin, the safety and the protection of data collected with the aim to safeguard personal data and mitigate against any adverse practices,” noted the statement.

“The Government is not aware of the source of funds. Part of the multi-agency team mandate will be to investigate the source of the money being issued to the participants and the beneficiaries of this activity.”