International Journal of Economics, Commerce and Management United Kingdom Vol. IV, Issue 11, November 2016 Licensed under Creative Common Page 231 http://ijecm.co.uk/ ISSN 2348 0386 DOES ECONOMIC CRIMES AFFECT KENYA’S ECONOMIC GROWTH? A COINTEGRATION APPROACH Angelah Bett MSc Student, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Kenya betangelah@gmail.com Willy Muturi Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Nairobi, Kenya wmuturi@ihrd.jkuat.ac.ke, mmuturi2001@gmail.com Abstract The global economy is faced with myriad of endemic economic crimes that increase in magnitude and dimension daily that have devastating effects on the wellbeing, security and the economy of any state. Yet, existing studies reach divergent conclusions that economic crimes could be growth-enhancing while conclude it is growth-reducing leaving a huge literature. There is a dearth of literature if any on the effect of economic crimes on Kenya’s economic growth. The study employed dynamic ordinary least square, nested in the Engle-Granger cointegration econometric analysis, to empirically estimate the relationship between economic crimes and economic growth using data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, Global Financial Integrity, World Bank and Transparency International from the period 2000 to 2014. Findings show a strong negative and statistically significant relationship between illicit financial flows and economic growth in Kenya both in the short and long run. However, finding on the relationship between corruption and money laundering were inconclusive. These recommends tightening existing regulatory gaps to close used by criminals to transfer illicit finances and launder money. The study also recommends the establishment of a multi-agency approach involving both domestic public and private; and international actors to combat economic crimes. Keywords: Economic Crimes, Economic Growth; Illicit Financial Flows; Money Laundering