Kenya: New corruption case involving British American Tobacco

A Kenyan public relations agency employee working for British American Tobacco (BAT) tried to bribe a journalist to try to get details of the investigation into the Bureau of Investigative Journalism on how the company targeted young non-smokers.

According to an investigation by Bureau of Investigative Journalism[1] published on 21 February 2021, British American Tobacco (BAT) has launched a £1 billion (€1.16 billion) marketing campaign that relies heavily on social media and event sponsorship to promote its new products to young people. The marketing campaign aims to expand BAT's consumer base through the promotion of its new products[2].

An employee of BAT's public relations agency, Engage BCW (the Kenyan agency of the Burson Cohn & Wolf group affiliated with the British advertising giant WPP) asked by text message one of the journalists, Edwin Okoth, in charge of the investigation what "his price was" to disclose his research to him.[3]. The employee said his request was part of a “media intelligence” gathering operation to assist his client (BAT) and further attempted to convince the journalist to share details of his investigations and implied that he would lose his job if he failed to gather the information. The journalist had in fact been investigating the sale and promotion of BAT’s new product. The product is a tobacco-free nicotine pouch that Kenyan authorities say is marketed to both young non-smokers and adult smokers. According to Okoth, corruption is a “daily challenge” facing journalists in Kenya.

British American Tobacco already suspected of corruption in East Africa

The developments come just weeks after the UK's anti-fraud department, the Serious Fraud Office (SFO), has suspended its investigations into BAT over allegations of corruption. In August 2017, a formal investigation was launched following reports that the manufacturer had bribed African government officials to influence tobacco legislation. A BBC report[4], published a few years earlier, revealed that BAT had allegedly asked a lobbyist to pay bribes to three public officials in Rwanda, Burundi and the Comoros in 2015. Several cases of corruption had been documented and reported in the BBC report. However, the SFO had said last January that there was not enough evidence to prosecute.

For the record, the investigation by BBC journalists revealed that:

• A senior Burundian government official associated with the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) treaty meetings reportedly received $3,000 from BAT in exchange for a copy of the country's future draft tobacco control law and to support industry positions at a session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body, organized under the FCTC, to develop the protocol to combat illicit trade in tobacco products;
• Another senior Rwandan government representative at FCTC meetings allegedly received $20,000 from BAT and a third from Comoros $3,000 to undermine WHO's work on tobacco control;
• Another Ugandan MP allegedly received a $25,000 bribe for sharing and altering a report on a rival tobacco company;
• A Ugandan MP who proposed the tobacco control bill in parliament allegedly received several thousand dollars from BAT to “infiltrate, influence and spy” on tobacco control activists and push BAT’s positions into the tobacco control bill.

Keywords: British American Tobacco, Corruption, Kenya ©Generation Without Tobacco

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[1] Matthew Chapman, New products, old tricks? Concerns big tobacco is targeting youngsters, The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, February 21, 2021, accessed February 22, 2021 [2] Tobacco Free Generation, BAT invests £1bn to promote new products to young people, February 22, 2021, accessed February 23, 2021 [3] Matthew Chapman, BAT's PR agency tried to snatch Bureau's Kenyan reporter, The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, February 21, 2021, accessed February 23, 2021 [4] Richard Bilton, The secret bits of big tobacco, BBC, November 30, 2015, accessed February 23, 2021 National Committee Against Smoking |