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CORRUPTION-KENYA: What About That Other Scandal?
By Darren Taylor
NAIROBI, Feb 3, 2006 (IPS) - As revelations about a multi-million-dollar scam
involving the Anglo Leasing and Finance company riveted public attention in
Kenya this week, a report about investigations into the country's biggest
corruption scandal ever was gathering dust in an office at State House.
Were government to take action over the report, however, the consequences
could reverberate throughout the East African country - and perhaps even
enable anti-graft campaigners to claim their biggest prize yet: former
president Daniel arap Moi. This past week saw the resignation of Finance
Minister David Mwiraria in connection with the Anglo Leasing saga; he is the
first cabinet minister to step down over allegations of corruption.
Kenya's most important scam to date took its name from Goldenberg
International, a company set up by local businessman Kamlesh Pattni, who
allegedly colluded with former and current officials to claim money for
fictitious exports of gold and diamonds.
This was done in the early 1990s, under the auspices of an export
compensation scheme set up to replenish Kenya's foreign exchange reserves.
These had dissipated after donors suspended aid to the East African country
to protest against the autocratic rule of Moi.
Upwards of 600 million dollars are said to have been looted from
government coffers in the course of what came to be known as the "Goldenberg
affair"; this alleged theft was one of the factors that prompted the World
Bank and International Monetary Fund to suspend several million dollars of
aid to Kenya in 1997.
Mwai Kibaki won office at the end of 2002 with a promise to eradicate the
corruption that had characterised Moi's rule - and set up the Goldenberg
Commission of Inquiry as evidence of his desire to confront graft.
The two-year inquiry into the Goldenberg affair ended in February last
year. By September, the three-member commission, led by Justice Samuel
Bosire, had presented a report to Kibaki with recommendations about how to
proceed in the matter.
During the hearings, Pattni named Moi as one of the chief planners of the
fraud. The businessman also claimed he had delivered suitcases full of cash
to the former president to get the go-ahead for the scheme.
The former president refused to testify before the Goldenberg Commission
in person, however, providing it instead with a written statement in which
he dismissed Pattni's allegations as "ridiculous". It was a version of
events that the commissioners did not subscribe to, even though they were
sceptical of Pattni's claims.
"We doubt whether the former president, as the chief executive officer of
the country, was completely unaware (of events surrounding Goldenberg)" they
write in their dossier, excerpts of which were obtained by IPS.
"Yet the impression created (by Moi) is that the former president had no
idea at all about all this. To establish the extent of his involvement, more
investigations would be necessary," the commissioners add.
The document also implicates Kenya's present education minister and
former vice president under Moi, George Saitoti, saying he approved
"irregular payments" to Pattni's company.
Legal sources who have seen the complete report tell IPS that it
recommends "further investigation and possible prosecution" of more than 70
people in all, most of them former government officials and businessmen who
were close to Moi.
While Assistant Minister of Justice Robinson Githae has promised that
government "will implement the recommendations of the commission in total
and the culprits will face the full force of the law," officials have yet to
make a decisive move in this regard.
They are obliged to wait for the official release of the report, a date
for which must still be made known.
As IPS reported last year, there have been concerns that Moi's supporters
may react angrily to efforts at bringing him to book - and a reluctance in
certain quarters to confront a leader who chose to leave office peacefully,
even after more than two decades of sometimes turbulent rule.
Nonetheless, faced with growing donor discontent about the apparent
mismanagement of public finances in Kenya, Kibaki is under pressure to act
against both past and present-day graft. The World Bank announced this week
that it was delaying payment of loans worth almost 270 million dollars to
the country until Nairobi demonstrated sufficient commitment in the fight
against corruption.
A report by former permanent secretary for governance and ethics John
Githongo that became public earlier this month has thrown new light on the
more recent Anglo Leasing scandal, linking serving and former members of
Kibaki's government to fraudulent deals worth an estimated 700 million
dollars.
Contracts were awarded to the fictitious Anglo Leasing and Finance Ltd
for the provision of a secure passport system, as well as the construction
of forensic laboratories for police.
Question marks are also hanging over the procurement of naval ships, and
a computer system for the police.
Githongo has been based in Britain since February last year, after
receiving a warning - allegedly from a cabinet minister - that his life
was in danger because of investigations into official graft.
In his report, the former permanent secretary reveals that cabinet
ministers asked him to "leave certain people alone" because of their good
relations with and support of Kibaki. He also describes how an unnamed
minister entered his office, emphasising that "if we went after (corrupt
individuals) our government would fall."
Githongo's dossier points a finger at high-ranking government officials
other than Mwiraria, notably Vice President Moody Awori, Energy Minister
Kiraitu Murungi and former transport minister Chris Murungaru.
"Corruption slumbered for a few months after Kibaki took office, but it
was resurrected soon afterwards," says Tom Ojienda, chairman of Kenya's Law
Society. (END)
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