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 regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...]
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 h ...
(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, 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, 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
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...
, 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.
Githongo's exile
In an interview with
Fergal Keane
Fergal Patrick Keane (born 6 January 1961) is an Irish foreign correspondent with BBC News, and an author. For some time, Keane was the BBC's correspondent in South Africa. He is a nephew of the Irish playwright, novelist and essayist John B. ...
for the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
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...
programme on 8 February 2006, Githongo revealed what he claims is taped evidence proving that
attempted to impede his inquiries. Murungi suggested that a
30 million/= loan to his father by a lawyer A.H. Malik had been bought by Anura Pereira, and might be forgiven in exchange for 'going slow' on the Anglo Leasing investigation. He reveals that at the end of his investigations, he came to the conclusion that the Anglo Leasing scandal went all the way to the top, and as a consequence his life was in danger. Anglo Leasing, and many other similar deals, were, in part, back-door financing to pay for
*On 23 November 2005, President Mwai Kibaki dissolved his cabinet following a humiliating defeat on a referendum on the proposed constitution of Kenya. In the resulting re-shuffle, Murungaru was not re-appointed.
*On 1 February David Mwiraria became the first of those implicated in the report to resign, doing so live on television. He maintained his innocence and claimed that he was resigning to clear his name.
*A day later, Awori refused to resign, saying he saw no reason to. A day later a group of 80 MPs called for the sacking of Awori, threatening street protests if their requests were not met.