Thank You For Prosecuting Anglo Leasing Suspects, US, UK, To DPP

Through a joint statement, envoys of the three countries have said the prosecution of the Anglo Leasing suspects is a step forward in the critical fight against corruption.

The three envoys; Robert Godec of US, Christian Turner of UK and their Swiss counterpart Jacques Pitteloud have further called for vigorous investigations of all allegations of corruption cases.

The envoys said the governments of the United States, the United Kingdom and Switzerland will continue to work with the Government of Kenya as it seeks to tackle corruption and to build a democratic, secure, and prosperous future.

DEFRAUDING THE GOVERNMENT

Last week, 13 suspects, including two former Finance Ministers, were charged with conspiracy to defraud the government of Ksh 7 billion in the Anglo Leasing scandal.

Former Finance Ministers David Mwiraria and Senator Chris Obure are alleged to have used their powers while in office to sanction contracts and subsequent payments, some at inflated costs, to ghost firms or to companies which never delivered the services they were paid for.

The charges were a culmination of over 10 years of investigations since the Anglo Leasing scandal came to public light.

The DPP said he had given consent for the arrest and prosecution of the 13 suspects over the scandal that saw Kenya lose billions of shillings in an illegal allocation of tender for the acquisition of passport equipment systems and forensic science laboratory for the police in 1997.

SECURE PASSPORTS

A French firm had put the cost of acquisition of the equipment at 6 million Euros, before the tender was awarded to a British firm Anglo Leasing Finance at 30 million Euros.

Last year, Kenya received evidence from Switzerland that revealed the identities of persons involved in the multi-billion shilling scandal.

Attorney General Prof Githu Muigai received the evidence and passed it on to the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC).

The Anglo Leasing scandal took place in December 2003 after the Department of Immigration tried to secure a loan to mordenize the issuance of secure passports and purchase security equipment to be used at Kenya’s borders, a process that was abused.

By Maureen Murimi