The Anglo Leasing scandal was a government procurement facilitated
corruption scandal in Kenya.
Origins
The scandal is alleged to have started when the
Kenya
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n Government wanted to replace its passport printing system, in 1997, but came to light after revelation by a government officer, in 2002.
It was among the many corrupt deals that were inherited from
KANU Government, which had ruled Kenya for 24 years. Even though the new
NARC Government came to power with a promise to fight corruption, which some effort was put but completely watered-down by the magnitude of the Anglo-Leasing Scandal. Some corrupt civil servants and cabinet ministers happily inherited graft projects and nurtured them. Former Internal Security Minister
Christopher Ndarathi Murungaru and former vice-president
Moody Awori
Arthur Moody Awori (born 5 December 1928), known as "Uncle Moody", is a former Kenyan politician who served as the ninth Vice President of Kenya from 25 September 2003[France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...]
and forensic science laboratories for the police were sourced from
Britain
Britain most often refers to:
* The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands
* Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...
. The transaction was originally quoted at 6 million euros by a French firm, but was awarded to a British firm, Anglo Leasing Finance, at 30 million euros, who would have sub-contracted the same French firm to do the work. The tender was not publicly advertised, and its details were leaked to the media by a junior civil servant. The Anglo-Leasing sales agent was Sudha Ruparell, a 48-year-old woman who is the daughter of Chamanlal Kamani and sister of Rashmikant Chamanlal Kamani and Deepak Kamani. The Kamani family has been involved in various security supplies scandals in the past. In January 2006, the Anglo-Leasing Scandal was given fresh impetus through the publication of John Githongo's report. The new revelations indicate that Anglo Leasing Finance was just one of a plethora of phantom entities, including some UK companies, used to perpetrate fraud on the Kenyan taxpayer through non-delivery of goods and services and massive overpricing. Infotalent Systems was a firm owned by the Kamanis and implicated in John Githongo's report, with a 5.2 million euro back pay for receiving a security contract worth 59.7 million euros.
["When bogus firms wired back Sh1bn"]
. Retrieved 2008-01-04
Impact
The then-British envoy to Kenya, Sir
Edward Clay
Sir Edward Clay KCMG (born 21 July 1945) is a retired British diplomat, formerly a High Commissioner and ambassador.
During his time as British High Commissioner in Kenya, Sir Edward earned a reputation for his willingness to speak out again ...
, publicly raised the issue of Anglo-Leasing at a dinner in
Nairobi
Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The name is derived from the Maasai phrase ''Enkare Nairobi'', which translates to "place of cool waters", a reference to the Nairobi River which flows through the city. The city proper ha ...
(se
the Guardian Newspaper article. He subsequently came under pressure from Kenyan politicians to make public his evidence, and was reported to have provided the President,
Mwai Kibaki
Emilio Stanley Mwai Kibaki (15 November 1931 – 21 April 2022) was a Kenyan politician who served as the third President of Kenya from December 2002 until April 2013 and is regarded as one of Kenya's founding fathers.
He had previously ser ...
, with a dossier containing details of corruption in the government. However, no one was punished and the case slipped from the public eye.
Kenya's minister in charge of the project,
Chris Murungaru, was later banned by the UK government from travelling to Britain, on the grounds that it would not be in the public good. It was widely reported that the ban was due to corruption by Mr Murungaru involving, among others, the Anglo-Leasing scam.
On 22 January 2006,
John Githongo
John Githongo (born 1965) is a former Kenyan journalist who investigated bribery and fraud in his home country (Kenya) and later, under the presidency of Mwai Kibaki, took on an official governmental position to fight corruption. In 2005 he lef ...
named Vice-president
Moody Awori
Arthur Moody Awori (born 5 December 1928), known as "Uncle Moody", is a former Kenyan politician who served as the ninth Vice President of Kenya from 25 September 2003[Kiraitu Murungi
Kiraitu Murungi (born 1 January 1952) is a Commissioner at the Kenya Law Reform Commission and the former governor of Meru County in Kenya. He is a former long-serving member of parliament for South Imenti constituency (1992-2013), former cab ...]
, former justice minister and later energy minister; finance minister
David Mwiraria and former transport minister Chris Murungaru) as being involved. He also mentioned that
Jimmy Wanjigi had sworn to kill him. Public sympathy for Githongo reached its peak when he released audio recordings of an incriminating conversation with Mwiraria on the internet. He also claimed that President Kibaki was complicit in the affair. Githongo claimed that the money raised would have funded the then government's forthcoming 2005 Constitutional Referendum and 2007 Election campaign. Githongo's report can be rea
here These allegations were denied by Awori and Murungaru and an investigation was promised.
In February, in an interview with the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
, Githongo told of his meeting with Kiraitu, during which the then Justice minister tried to blackmail him over a loan his (Githongo's) father is said to owe businessman Anura Pereira. "The minister of Justice was telling me that if I eased off my inquiries, then my father's loan matter would be made to go away," Githongo said. He had an audiotape, which was played on the BBC.
...