Sally Kosgei defends buying Ksh.100 million house in London

Sally Kosgei, former Agricultural Minister in Moi’s government is on the spot for having purchased a prime piece of real estate in London.

Kosgei, who has been unearthed in the Paradise Papers leak, a treasure trove of 13.4 million files, says that she bought the flat with personal funds before becoming the head of Kenya’s public service.

“There is no relation whatsoever” between the purchase and date of her work in the Office of the President, Kosgei said, and told International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) she acted on lawyer’s advice.

She said it is not unlawful for Kenyans to buy property through offshore companies and that she had “satisfied all obligations (legal, professional and ethical) as a public official in Kenya” and declared everything that is and was required.

Information on ICIJ’s website states that; “Kosgei owned Zonrisa Ltd., a Mauritius company previously registered in the Isle of Man under the name Aisha Ltd. Zonrisa owned an apartment in central London near Harrods department store in 2001 which cost $1 million, according to emails sent to Appleby. Kosgei owned her offshore company in April 2001, when she began work as the cabinet secretary in the Office of the President. Kosgei’s ownership continued throughout her tenure as one of Kenya’s most powerful politicians.

Documents sent to Appleby confirmed that Aisha Ltd. would use money from Kosgei’s company in Kenya, Zena Roses Ltd, to buy the London home. The 70 hectare Kenyan flower farm company exports roses to Europe.”

The files, dubbed Paradise Papers were leaked to Suddeutsche Zeitung, the same German newspaper that took hold of the Panama Papers in April, 2016.

“There’s a new global industry that caters to money that moves around the world,” Drew Sullivan, a journalist with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), told Al Jazeera. “This money moves through tax havens and it’s moved to evade taxes to hide assets, to steal money.”