The shame of the Anglo leasing payments...cry my beloved country!!!

[Dr. Job]

Now Uhuru Kenyatta is getting ready to make payouts to his kikuyu kindered...your last name betrays you...oh my dear Kenyans!!!

Shame Of The Anglo Leasing Payments

BY ANDREA BOHNSTEDT
Saturday, May 3, 2014 - 00:00

Southern Sudan is, as we all know, a sad, sorry mess at the moment. This is very depressing, but it is also unsurprising. If you have spent a bit of time learning about the history of Southern Sudan, you will recognise the pattern quite easily.

The region has a long history not just of civil war with the north of what was back then Sudan, but also a long history of southern infighting.

Re-reading ‘Emma's War' a little while ago reminded me of that quite strongly, the narration of the Bor massacre, for example, was a painful déjà vu.

So a bit of memory is useful. And I am worried about the current, say, forgetfulness (by which I mean full lobotomy) when it comes to that seemingly undying zombie AngloLeasing, midwifed under Mzee Moi's administration, and then adopted by Mzee Kibaki's administration. Because really, at the first mention of ‘AngloLeasing' and ‘payments', the entire country should have sat up and thrown such a side eye at whoever first brought it up again that this person would have scuttled away quietly, quickly, shamefully.

Instead, we are actually having something resembling a discussion on paying these bogus claims. It truly beggars belief. If you feel a little shaky on the facts of the matter, sit down with a cup of coffee and your friend Google who will help you find Mr Githongo's dossier in moments.

Mr Githongo, as you will probably recall, went to considerable lengths to investigate the AngloLeasing contracts, and kindly wrote up all the details of how those companies that were to be paid millions, hundreds of millions, of dollars were briefcase companies.

He also listed the people inside and outside of the government who were involved in these sham transactions. And then he also briefed Mzee Kibaki on all these details over months.

That was a whole lot of work. Re-read it, because it is your taxes, and because the depth of information he dug up is still well impressive. Especially with hindsight, as hindsight reminds you that nothing really serious has happened to anyone involved in the multi-million dollar scam.

Government back then said that payments made had been refunded, but curiously could not say who refunded it. Possibly because as recent as 2012, a Kenyan judge also found that the AngloLeasing companies did not actually exist. Duh!

You might think that the government should have investigated this. This is perhaps not a realistic assumption, given the number of people in the government who Mr Githongo had flagged as participants in the scam - government investigating itself is a bit of a conflict of interest. And alas: In 2009, the UK's Serious Fraud Office had halted its investigations because: "This case depended on mutual legal assistance from the government of Kenya.

The director of the SFO has exercised his discretion to terminate the investigation as there is currently no reasonable prospect of conviction without the evidence from Kenya."

One of German's lovely compound nouns is Richtlinienkompetenz. This translates roughly into the capacity to direct policy, and is part of the job description of the head of government, the chancellor. Something like that is what I would have expected from the head of state and his deputy.

Knowing full well, as all of us and our pet fish do, that there is no such thing as a legitimate AngloLeasing company, and that there was never any intention of actually delivering on any of those contracts, to say ‘No, nada, will not happen, not even going to go there. Ridiculous. Next.' Nothing else. No passing the buck to parliament.

Not letting a respected technocrat as Mr Henry Rotich(Treasury Cabinet Secretary), or a man of the intellectual capacities of the AG, defend payments to briefcase companies.

This is where your Richtlinienkompetenz kicks in: to make it very clear that no, the idea of making such obviously illegitimate payments to non-existent companies will not fly, end of, back to work.

Of course the AngloLeasing resurgence might also make you take another look at the proposed 2014/2015 budget and the government's recent security initiatives. Items such as forensic labs were part of the bogus AngloLeasing contracts.

Now just imagine that the government had spent money on the purchase of an actual forensic lab, and staffed it, and used and maintained it.

Wouldn't that be useful to investigate such awful events as the car bomb that killed four people at Pangani police station, just to mention one recent incident?

The existence of such a lab might have been useful to prevent further attacks years ago. And what does that say about your confidence that the government will actually make these purchases this time round after budgeting for them?

PS: Those CORD MPs threatening to release the names of the people behind AngloLeasing: Get on with it already. If you have knowledge of a massive crime, or an attempted massive crime, do not just sit around making ominous threatening noises. That makes you complicit.

- See more at: Shame Of The Anglo Leasing Payments | The Star

 

[Ab-Titchaz]

Stop arm-twisting MPs to approve the payment of billions to shadowy entities

Businessman Deepak Chamanlal Kamani leaves Integrity Centre on December 09 2010, where he was being questioned in connection with the Anglo-Leasing scandal.PHOEBE OKALL/NATION

By Peter Anyang' Nyong'o

[h=3]In Summary[/h]

• The National Assembly should summon Mr Anura Perera and Mr Deepak Kamani to explain which companies they have been interceding for in the Anglo Leasing saga.
• Let us treat this legal fascism with the contempt it deserves: refuse to pay Anglo Leasing, stop the fetishism we are developing about foreign bonds, and look for an internal process of cleaning up our financial mess and becoming more self-reliant.

The National Assembly resumed its sitting yesterday. Already, plans are in high gear from the Anglo Leasing captains to armtwist MPs to approve some criminal payments to the shadowy business moguls.

Kenyans are screaming loud and clear that MPs must maintain their stand and keep away from betraying their country.

In the meantime the National Treasury has, since independence, been fleecing Kenyans of trillions of shillings by paying shady foreign debts year in, year out.

It is time we took stock of what Kenya has been losing down the ages so that we get to know how some so-called "successful businessmen" have been taking us to the cleaners systematically so as to accumulate their wealth.

Ken-Ren (Sh4.3 billion), Goldenberg (Sh158 billion), Anglo-Leasing (Sh112 billion) and many more such deals amounting to Sh40 billion or $453,463,000 (at current exchange rate) that we have lost but can claim back if we fight hard.

The names of those involved are known from the Public Accounts Committee Report of 2006, reports from the Mars Group, the Kroll Report of September 2007 and various court records where these cases have been heard locally and abroad.

With specific reference to Anglo Leasing, there should be no guess-work. The relevant committees of the National Assembly should summon Mr Anura Perera and Mr Deepak Kamani to explain to Kenyans which companies they have been interceding for in the Anglo Leasing saga.

In the Narc government, our Cabinet Committee on Corruption did a lot of work. Our secretary, Mr John Githongo, is around. So are my other former colleagues, Dr Chris Murungaru, Mr Kiraitu Murungi, Mr David Mwiraria and Mr Raila Odinga.

"FACTS OF A CRIMINAL NATURE"

We all should help this nation to solve this puzzle. Mr Francis Muthaura, who is the former head of public service and secretary to the Cabinet, would be of help.

So would Mr Justice Aaron Ringera who used to be the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission director when these cases reared their ugly heads. Let us all be heard first by these parliamentary committees.

President Uhuru Kenyatta will have his conclusions in 2006 when he was chairman of PAC vindicated once the National Assembly gets to know who Anglo Leasing is through these testimonies.

What Attorney-General Githu Muigai should do is to put it to the relevant courts in the United Kingdom that the government cannot proceed to honour those court decisions due to some very important facts of a criminal nature that the Kenya Government must fully investigate before proceeding further.

He must denounce an earlier letter that emanated from his office to our solicitors in London telling them not to defend Kenya in the Anglo Leasing cases.

He should also let Kenyans know that the Swiss government has already made it known to us that it froze $200 million of Anglo Leasing monies (belonging obviously to the Kenya Government) and is not likely to release it until all suspicions of criminality are ruled out.

Connecting the payment of 1.4 billion shillings to the Anglo Leasers as a condition of getting credit through foreign bonds makes no sense if we shall end up paying even more money to the Anglo Leasers once the floodgates are opened by this single payment.

Let us treat this legal fascism with the contempt it deserves: refuse to pay Anglo Leasing, stop the fetishism we are developing about foreign bonds, and look for an internal process of cleaning up our financial mess and becoming more self-reliant.


Prof Anyang' Nyong'o is acting ODM leader (anyongo@yahoo.com)

Stop arm-twisting MPs to approve the payment of billions to shadowy entities - Opinion - nation.co.ke

 

[Dr. Job]

The ghost of Anglo Leasing seems to have come back to haunt Kenyans! The scam involved several security related supplies that were contracted to ghost companies. The politics of the day meant that there was little clarity on whether the deals were genuine, whether indeed the said companies were existing or non-existent.

Against advice that the action could have led to breach of contract between the contracting companies, Kibaki's kitchen Cabinet was ignoring the fact that there was the financing arrangement - Anglo Leasing - and the supplier companies. The theft was being perpetuated through the financing arrangements.

The supplier companies had legit agreements with GOK and negotiated terrible deals with Kenya where disputes could be heard in courts outside Kenya. So the companies went to court and Kenya failed to mount any defence leading to judgements being entered against GOK. Now Kenya is bound to make payments for breach of contract because of this stupidity!

Meanwhile the parliamentary Budget and Finance committees have approved the government's decision to settle 1.4 billion shillings debt to two firms linked to Anglo Leasing contracts. The decision followed a heated session in which the treasury cabinet and principal secretaries and the solicitor general were hard pressed to explain why the government lost the appeals and the identity of shadowy figures behind the firms. Sylvia Chebet sat through the session and gives the highlights in the clip below:

 

[Dr. Job]

Below are the criminals who got Kenya in this mess in the 1st place. Thanks to Wikileaks this infor is out there.

Alfred Getonga,
Anura Perera,
Deepak Kamani,
Joseph "Jimmy" Wanjigi

https://www.wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/06NAIROBI944_a.html

 

[Dr. Job]

And this is what Uhuru said when he was Finance Minister....pray tell, what has changed?

======================================================================
Anglo Leasing follows President Uhuru Kenyatta to State House

By Alex Ndegwa


Nairobi, Kenya: As leader of Opposition in Parliament, President Uhuru Kenyatta gave one of the most eloquent and persuasive arguments against honouring payments related to the shadowy Anglo Leasing contracts.

But eight years later and firmly in State House as Kenya’s fourth President, Uhuru is faced with the contradiction of the same payments having to be paid out on the back of contractual obligations and court decrees.

This has handed the President and his administration the unenviable task of justifying payments for the same Anglo Leasing contracts he once condemned as “a scam” and “a system to continue robbing the country blindly”.

The Jubilee Government’s proposal to pay Sh1.4 billion to settle a claim arising from one of the dubious 18 security-related contracts has stirred Anglo Leasing ‘ghosts’ and split the ruling coalition.

But the latest clamour has an uncanny coincidence with events that led to conception of the Sh55 billion scandal in 2001 and Uhuru’s grim prediction in Parliament on the afternoon of April 5, 2006.

Then, as Official Leader of Opposition, Uhuru had warned that unless the House stopped the shadowy architects of the scam, they would return even in “Governments to come”.

As fate would have it, his Jubilee administration has been the one to pick part of the bills on the table with others waiting in the wings as the as-yet unknown contractors exert pressure that they too be cleared.

“I have no fear in saying that those individuals have no loyalty to this country but to themselves. They existed in the previous government and exist in the current one,” he said, referring to the Kanu regime under which the deals were conceived and its successor, National Rainbow Coalition, whose leaders steamrolled the gravy train.

“Unless this House takes appropriate action, they will continue to exist even in the Government to come,” warned Uhuru, then the chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), while moving the motion for the adoption of a special audit report on procurement of passport issuing equipment, one of the 18 shady contracts.

Standard Digital News - Kenya : Anglo Leasing follows President Uhuru Kenyatta to State House

 

[Dr. Job]

Let me put faces to these names:

BUSINESSMAN: Jimmy Wanjigi

EX-MINISTER: Chris Murungaru

ARCHITECT: Deepak Kamani


Thursday, May 8, 2014 - 00:00 -- BY OLIVER MATHENGE

IN March 2006 Uhuru Kenyatta, now President but then Public Accounts Committee chairman, presented a report in Parliament naming the individuals allegedly behind the Anglo Leasing scandal.

Other than individuals linked to the companies that received the contracts, the PAC report referred to various local individuals.

During the PAC investigations, former Governance and Ethics Secretary John Githongo named businessman Jimmy Wanjigi, President Kibaki's Personal Secretary Alfred Getonga, Internal Security Minister Chris Murungaru, Internal Security PS Dave Mwangi and Finance Secretary Joseph Oyula.

Although the PAC did not confirm the links of these individuals with the Anglo Leasing companies, it recommended that they be investigated over their role in the scandal.

Uhuru, who was then leader of the Opposition, said that those behind the alleged scandal had threatened to eliminate Githongo.

“On May 17, 2004, Hon (Kiraitu) Murungi wondered whether Mr Githongo appreciated the political costs of these investigations. Hon (David) Mwiraria also dropped in on Mr Githongo and informed him that Mr Jimmy Wanjigi, a businessman concerned about Anglo Leasing investigations, had sworn that he would kill Mr Githongo,” the PAC report stated.

The report said that Director of Public Prosecutions Philip Murgor told Githongo that Getonga had asked for the withdrawal of letters seeking investigations outside Kenya.

Businessman Jimmy Wanjigi is reportedly still active in major business deals and lives in a large newly built house in Muthaiga.

Muranguru is still suing Githongo to try and clear his name. He leads a quiet life but is involved in small business and farming.

Getonga was a key campaign manager in Uhuru's election campaign. Otherwise he is leading a fairly quiet life in Nairobi.

Dave Mwangi is in business but shuns the limelight.

Last month the Treasury asked Parliament to approve the payment of Sh1.4 billion for two Anglo-Leasing contracts worth Sh2.9 billion that were cancelled.

First Mercantile Securities went to court in the UK and Switzerland to seek recovery of the money for the Universal Satspace contract. It was awarded compensation, apparntly because the Kenya government chose not to vigorously defend the case.

The Jubilee coalition is now bitterly divided on whether the government should pay the debt.

Some MPs have now demanded full disclosure of the owners of the companies and their Kenyan links.

The PAC report merely mentions First Mercantile Securities Corporation and Universal Satspace as among the Anglo Leasing companies but did not give details of their owners. The First Mercantile company that is suing government was only incorporated in Switzerland in 2006 with nominee directors after the PAC report was released.

In 2006 Githongo named businessman Deepak Kamani before the PAC as a leader of the plot for the “resurrection of the project." Kamani still lives in Nairobi on Kyuna Road. He boasts that he is "untouchable" because of what he knows.

The PAC also named Anura Perera, Amin Juma, Melvyn Kettering and Ludmilla Katuschenko.Kamani as “the key persons who are either agents, possible owners or possible directors” of the Anglo Leasing companies.

The PAC report included a charts that showed the key players in the companies.
Kamani was a director in Rajath Leasing and Finance and Sagaar Associates that received contracts.

Katuschenko was a director of LBA International while Kettering was a director of Dynatech International and a consultant for LBA.

LBA International was awarded five security contracts between 1997 and 2002. Investigations by PAC revealed that Anglo Leasing shared an address with Dynatech.

Sound Day Communications, which had the same address as LBA International, was awarded five contracts in 2002 and 2003.

The PAC report to Parliament, which was adopted in April 2006, said that there was no evidence that Cabinet approved the Anglo Leasing security proiects.

"The only evidence produced for the Committee was Cabinet's approval of the financing option as described under the genesis of the Forensic Laboratory project," the report said.

The PAC report was later used by the United States to deny visas to the individuals.

According to a Wikileaks cable referenced 06NAIROBI944_a, US ambassador William Bellamy asked his government that the individuals be denied entry to the US.

NAMES FROM UHURU PROBE ON ANGLO LEASING SCAM | The Star

 

[Ab-Titchaz]

How multi-billion contracts came to haunt Kenya

Jubille Members walk out of Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich at a Nairobi Hotel on April 30, 2014 as plan to lobby them to back a Sh1.4 billion Anglo Leasing payment failed to materialise. The government lost a case against one of the Anglo Leasing firms because it failed to honour a court agreement to settle the matter. PHOTO/GERALD ANDERSON. NATION

By PATRICK MAYOYO

[h=3]In Summary[/h]

• A ruling in the case shows that after a protracted legal battle in which the government refused to pay Universal Satspace LLC of America, a London court in February 2003 ordered for mediation between the parties.
• Instead, the court said, at the request of the Kenya Government, there was to be a 21-day delay in signing and the parties promised to sign the agreement within that period.
• In the case involving First Mercantile Securities Corporation, the court ordered the government to pay the Swiss firm $2.5 million plus 8.75 per cent interest and the cost of the suit.

The government lost a case against one of the Anglo Leasing firms because it failed to honour a court agreement to settle the matter.

A ruling in the case shows that after a protracted legal battle in which the government refused to pay Universal Satspace LLC of America, a London court in February 2003 ordered for mediation between the parties.

The court says the mediation was successful because the parties reached an agreement to settle the matter.

"Usually at mediation, the terms of the agreement are written down and signed by the parties, but in this case, and unusually, the agreement between the parties was not signed," the court observed.

Instead, the court said, at the request of the Kenya Government, there was to be a 21-day delay in signing and the parties promised to sign the agreement within that period.

"However, although the claimants promptly drew up the agreement and signed it, the government did not to do so," the court said.
It says it is under these circumstances that the application to strike out the government defence had been brought to court.

"The court may strike out a statement of case if it appears to the court that the statement of case is an abuse of the court process, or is otherwise likely to obstruct the just disposal of the proceedings or there has been a failure to comply with the rule, practice direction or court order," the court observed.

Consequently, it dismissed the government defence and ordered it to pay Universal Satspace LLC $7.6 million being the principal sum being claimed plus $274,431 interest on that sum up to December 20, 2013.

The money was to be paid by January 17, 2014.

In the case involving First Mercantile Securities Corporation, the court ordered the government to pay the Swiss firm $2.5 million plus 8.75 per cent interest and the cost of the suit.

Before this, the government had refused to pay the firm, claiming that those who had signed the contract in dispute did not have authority to act on its behalf, that the contract was signed as a result of bribery to the signatories and there was alleged fraudulent misrepresentation.

The court also threw out a government application to appeal and ordered it to pay the claimant's costs of its application assessed at £60,000.

Following these developments, Treasury recently said it reached a negotiated settlement with one of the 18 Anglo Leasing companies, clearing the main hurdle that has delayed plans to raise money from international markets.

Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich said that the government has negotiated a Sh1.4 billion ($16.4 million) settlement with First Mercantile, paving the way for issuance of the Sh174 billion ($2 billion) Euro Bond "in a matter of months".

"We have more or less closed the chapter on this Anglo Leasing thing. The only pending issues are criminal investigations that are ongoing," he said.

However, the development sparked a fresh national uproar, reviving the ghost of the Anglo Leasing scandal that dogged both the Moi and Kibaki administrations.

Anglo Leasing is a UK-based firm that provided financing for 18 security contracts signed towards the end of President Daniel arap Moi's Kanu regime.

Documents show that Universal Satspace LLC, which also goes by the name Spacenet Inc, was contracted to provide satellite bandwidth to then Postal Corporation of Kenya to enable post offices to be connected to the Internet.

It was also to supply other VSAT, communication and electronic equipment.

First Mercantile was to provide financing for the purchase of satellite telecommunication equipment for the Postal Corporation of Kenya as part of the multi-billion-shilling deals that the government signed with European firms in 2004.

Attempts by the Jubilee coalition to rally MPs to endorse the payments ended in disarray with the legislators demanding that they be told the individuals behind the two firms.

The MPs rebelled against their leader in Parliament, Mr Aden Duale, and vowed they would not be used as rubber stamps to pay billions of shillings to "phantom" companies.

Subsequently, a motion seeking Parliament's approval to pay the sum in one instalment was withdrawn.

How multi-billion contracts came to haunt Kenya - News - nation.co.ke

 

[Ab-Titchaz]

​

 

[Ab-Titchaz]

Amos Wako must come clean on Anglo Leasing

AMOS WAKO: The former Attorney General whom Professor Philip G. Alston called the embodiment of the culture of impunity and current ODM luminary Amos Wako, under whose watch this high treason was perpetrated, must come clean and tell the country who was involved.

Saturday, May 10, 2014 - 00:00 -- BY MIGUNA MIGUNA.

True to their hypocritical selves, Kenyan critics have been yelling about the government’s treasonable decision to continue plundering billions of public money under the guise of paying “Anglo Leasing debts” yet omitting to name and shame those who conceived and executed this despicable crime.

For about three weeks, we have been inundated by reels of stories and opinion columns published in the local media about this scam, all of them deliberately and cowardly skirting the real issue: the scoundrels that looted our coffers and are threatening yet another raid with the open approval and facilitation by the Government of Kenya.

“We want to know the faces behind the Anglo Leasing scam!” Many government critics, NGOs, and the main opposition party, ODM, have been screaming themselves hoarse.

The deceitfulness is nauseating. I’m sickened to the pit of my stomach by these useless noises. Why? Because those behind the high treason are well known. They have been known at least since 2005.

The decision to pay a group of people who had conspired to defraud – and actually defrauded - the people of Kenya hundreds of billions of shillings constitutes treason because this kind of grand larceny against a deprived, exploited and suffering people is worse than murder.

In my books, it constitutes mass murder because the amount of money involved can feed millions of ordinary Kenyans for more than a decade. If that money was invested in food production, it could feed tens of millions of Kenyans for decades.

Taking such colossal amounts of money from the mouths of hungry children and starving peasants and workers is like dropping atomic bombs on all the slums and villages around the country. The effect is devastating.

The act of openly plundering hundreds of billions of shillings from a people already chocking under the sky high inflation, unaffordable commodity prices, unimaginable public debt, poor sanitation, homelessness and unspeakable deprivations constitute a betrayal of public trust or confidence. It undermines the people’s faith in their government.

If we invested just a fraction of the billions that have been paid to the despicable looters and the billions that the Jubilee government intends to pay, we would have said goodbye to a lot of our national problems.

Yet, the defiance and arrogance exhibited by the Jubilee government in trying to circumvent moral, legal and constitutional principles in order to pad the looters’ nests is tantamount to one acting in concert with others to overthrow or harm the country’s sovereignty.

It amounts to one giving aid or comfort to the enemies of one’s government. This is because the act of looting from one’s public coffers will have the corresponding effect of causing disaffection among one’s populace.

The very act of paying local and foreign looters hundreds of billions of shillings under the pretext of satisfying bogus claims abroad amounts to an orchestrated campaign against the very government that intends to make the payment.

That’s because the people will most likely rebel against that government. If pushed against the wall, there is potential for insurrection and instability. If that happens, the government would stand accused for attempting to overthrow itself.

Accordingly, the proposed ‘payments’ amounts to the Jubilee government violating its allegiance to our sovereignty or to our state.

On assumption of power, both the President and the Deputy President took oaths of allegiance of President and the Deputy President in which they stated as follows:

"I, Uhuru Kenya/William Samoei Ruto, in full realisation of the high calling I assume as President/Deputy President of the Republic of Kenya, do swear that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to the Republic of Kenya; that I will obey, preserve, protect and defend this Constitution of Kenya, as by law established, and all other laws of the Republic; and that I will protect and uphold the sovereignty, integrity and dignity of the people of Kenya – So help me God."

On taking the oath of affirmation of due execution of office, the President added that, “I will truly and diligently serve the people of the Republic of Kenya…I will diligently discharge my duties and perform my functions in the Office of President…and I will do justice to all in accordance with this Constitution, as by law established, and the laws of Kenya, without fear, favour, affection or ill-will – So help me God.”

Similarly all cabinet secretaries, secretary to the cabinet, chief justice, judges of the Supreme Court, judges of the Court of Appeal, judges of the High Court, Members of Parliament, the speakers and deputy speakers of the two chambers of Parliament also took solemn oaths undertaking to diligently serve the people, to impartially do justice in accordance with the Constitution, the laws and customs of the Republic and to uphold and to obey, respect, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution.

These weren’t trifles. They were sombre, solemn undertakings.

They fully bound those who took the oaths. They created positive duties on the office bearers to perform their functions diligently in accordance with the law.

Consequently, authorising and/or facilitating payments from public coffers to known criminal cartels would constitute disrespect, disobedience and a fundamental breach of the laws of Kenya and the Constitution. This is because neither the Constitution nor the laws of Kenya permit payment to criminals.

That’s why I am today, publicly demanding that the former Attorney General whom Professor Philip G. Alston called the embodiment of the culture of impunity and current ODM luminary Amos Wako, under whose watch this high treason was perpetrated, must come clean and tell the country who was involved, how much each conspirator has pocketed and why he shouldn’t be held personally responsible for this serious crime.

Having gone through the Wikileaks cables, the Uhuru Kenyatta-led probe report on Anglo Leasing, John Githongo’s dossier and Michela Wrong’s It is Our Turn to Eat, Kenyans of goodwill must demand answers from the Jubilee government why those implicated like Moody Awori, Chris Murungaru, David Mwiraria, Joseph “Jimmy” Wanjigi, Alfred Gitonga, Anura Perera, Deepak Kamani, Kiraitu Murungi and Joseph Kibwana have never been charged and prosecuted for the alleged crimes.

Who is protecting these people and why? Are these individuals above the law?

As a lawyer, I cannot convict anyone unheard. Neither can I purport to be a court of competent jurisdiction that can or has tried the alleged perpetrators. Those named are presumed innocent until proven guilty.

However, having said that, it is imperative that we focus on credible evidence (in the public domain) that has already been adduced against some or all of the above-named individuals and fervently demand their prosecution (without any further delay) to the full extent of the law.

Finally, I know gratuitous critics will waste no time in demanding that I focus on “issues” and not “personalities.” Fortunately for me, in the English language which I am very familiar with, the word “issue” is just another elegant word for “a point” or “a question.” Thankfully, these concepts only exist in relation to individual enquiry.

Anyone with a fleeting understanding of the English language, therefore, either knows or ought to know that no issues exist outside human conceptualisation.

Whether we are discussing grand ideas such as democracy, constitutionalism, freedom or liberation, we must always remember that without individuals who conceived of, practised or pursued these ideas or causes, the ideas themselves would be as barren as the Kalahari desert.

Amos Wako must come clean on Anglo Leasing | The Star

 

[Dr. Job]

And the blame game continues....

President Kenyatta blames Anglo Leasing pay on AG

President Kenyatta addresses a press conference at State House Nairobi on May 16, 2014. He blamed lawyers in the State Law Office for failing to defend the Government's position on the Anglo Leasing contracts competently. PHOTO | SALATON NJAU NATION MEDIA GROUP

By AGGREY MUTAMBO

[h=3]In Summary[/h]

• The President said it was better to pay and clear the way for Kenya's issue of a Euro Bond which the government hopes will fetch Sh132 billion.
• Anglo Leasing involved contracts entered in between 1997 and 2003 for the delivery of security services for the government.

International pressure and second-rate performance by the State Law Office condemned Kenya into paying for the controversial Anglo Leasing contracts, President Kenyatta said on Friday.

He tore into the Attorney General's office and demanded that they "up their game" in fighting the country's legal battles abroad.

The revelation formed the core of the President's argument that Kenya had no choice but to pay Sh1.4 billion to two controversial firms, after losing cases to them in London and Geneva.

"We must up our game so that our counsel can stand by what all Kenyans including myself believe that we should not be paying this and we need to be able to win all those court battles in the courtroom," he told journalists at State House, Nairobi.

"Unfortunately, out there in the international community, they are not interested in our debate here; they are interested in the ruling of the courts and whether Kenya has obeyed the ruling of the court or not," said the President, who on Thursday authorised the National Treasury to pay Sh1.4 billion to First Mercantile Securities Corporation and Universal Sat Space, which took the country to courts in London (2013) and Geneva (2012), for breach of contract. First Mercantile won $10.6 million while Sat Space was awarded $7.8 million.

The two companies had signed contracts worth Sh2.9 billion with Kenya but the court awards meant Kenya had to pay an equivalent of Sh1.6 billion. Treasury officials have argued they negotiated the figure down to Sh1.4 billion, but which would balloon to Sh96.6 billion including interest rates, if Kenya failed to pay.

When he tabled a Parliamentary Accounts Committee report on the procurement of passports in 2006, President Kenyatta, then the committee's chair, observed that the contracts represented "impunity, negligence and recklessness in the management of public resources." He called them a "scam" given the way insiders in government colluded with faceless firms to dupe the government into paying interests and fees on items that were not delivered.

On Friday, Mr Kenyatta said he still stood by those words since only the circumstances have changed.

"That position still stands, but the fact of the matter is, that was a parliamentary report. I was not counsel representing this nation in the courts in London and in Geneva at the arbitration. We didn't lose our battle in the National Assembly; we lost our battle in the courts out there.

"Despite that particular standing, there is a ruling in an international court that has made demands that Kenya must pay. We lost the case, we didn't win it. The fact that we didn't win it doesn't mean that I have changed my position, I maintain my position."

EURO BOND

The President said it was better to pay and clear the way for Kenya's issue of a Euro Bond which the government hopes will fetch Sh132 billion to finance the next budget. Failure to pay would mean Kenya would not secure approval to issue the bond as it would be deemed to have dishonoured its international obligations, he said.

On the possibility that the payment could open up an avenue for other firms to sue for compensation, claiming they were not paid, President Kenyatta said it was the duty of the Attorney-General to prevent such an eventuality.

Anglo Leasing involved contracts entered in between 1997 and 2003 for the delivery of security services for the government which included a forensic lab, passport equipment and technological improvement for the Postal Corporation. They were worth Sh55 billion.

But the government then did not have money so it entered lease-financing and credit and supplier credits to circumvent the departure of financial donors. According to the Treasury, 11 contracts (Sh30.5 billion) were partially completed, four of which worth Sh18.9 billion were cancelled and three worth Sh6.8 billion were fully delivered.

However, of the five remaining (Sh13.8 billion), Kenya paid contractual penalties worth Sh7.9 billion to two, one is still being negotiated while two were subjected to court proceedings in London and Geneva.

President Kenyatta blames Anglo Leasing pay on AG - Politics - nation.co.ke

 

[Dr. Job]

Then the AG says thus....

Githu denies blame on Anglo Leasing

ATTORNEY GENERAL: Githu Muigai

ATTORNEY General Githu Muigai has told the Law Society of Kenya to direct its fury over the Anglo Leasing cases to his predecessor Amos Wako. He was responding to LSK's ultimatum demanding his resignation.

President Uhuru has also criticised the AG's Office and demanded that they up their game. LSK has also threatened to strip Githu off his senior counsel status.

Yesterday, Githu said besides Wako, people responsible for the deals have been spared. “I was not the Attorney General when the contracts were approved, when the matter was taken to court and when the defence was prepared. We have been dealing with an aftermath,” Githu told the Star yesterday.

Musalia Mudavadi, the UDF party leader was the minister of transport at the time. Chris Obure, now a Senator was the finance minister. Francis Chahonyo was the Post-Master General at the time while Sammy Kyungu was the PS. They were all named adversely in the saga.

LSK says Deputy Solicitor General Muthoni Kimani wrote a letter on August 11, 2008 directing government advocates handling the case not to advance the defence of bribery and corruption. Both Githu and LSK concur that the cases were doomed from that day.

“The senior deputy solicitor general has filed an extensive affidavit providing full and frank disclosure of all the proceedings in the Swiss and UK courts regarding this long protracted cases which commenced in 2006 long before I went to work in the state law office,” Githu said in statement.

LSK blames Githu for the “suspicious circumstances” under which he appears to have withdrawn instructions in December 2013 from the foreign advocates and the “unprocedurall” manner in which his office took over the conduct of the case.

For instance, the LSK says Solicitor General Njee Muturi presented himself to before the London Court last December to defend the case yet he did not have a licence to practice in England and Wales. “Effectively the Kenya Government did not have legal representation in the suit and the proceedings are a nullity,” he said.

The LSK also accuses Githu of “giving a misleading legal opinion that the government has no other legal option but to pay the Anglo Leasing contracts while an appeal option was and is still available. ”

On Friday, Uhuru said the cases could have been won. He said there was enough evidence that the cases deals were fraudulent. LSK picked on the matter and demanded that Githu resigns.

Githu denies blame on Anglo Leasing | The Star

 

[Dr. Job]

Githu unmasks Anglo Leasing firms’ directors

Attorney General Githu Muigai addressing media representatives at his office in Nairobi on May 19, 2014. He was responding to Government Anglo Leasing payout outcry. President Uhuru Kenyatta has ordered Treasury to pay Anglo Leasing firms Sh1.4 Billion. BILLY MUTAI (NAIROBI)

By AGGREY MUTAMBO

In Summary

• In his defence, Prof Muigai said he should not be blamed for the scandal which led Kenya to pay the Sh1.4 billion to the two companies.

The same individuals were involved in the creation of two Anglo Leasing type contracts for which Kenya controversially paid Sh1.4 billion on Thursday, sparking protests from opposition politicians and the Law Society of Kenya.

According to documents provided by Attorney-General Githu Muigai on Monday, both First Mercantile Securities Corporation and Spacenet Inc were linked to Kenyan businessman Anura Perera. These are the two companies that President Uhuru Kenyatta directed National Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich to pay Sh1.4 billion.

According to Prof Muigai, the money was a penalty for incomplete payments for the two contracts that Kenya signed with First Mercantile Securities and Universal Satspace in 2002.

“The man in front of you today is a mortician,” Prof Muigai told a Press conference in his office in Nairobi. “The patient died on the operating table. If you think the patient should have lived, ask the surgeons.”

He presented a statement dated May 14, 2014, signed by Solicitor General Njee Muturi and addressed to the Senate committee on Finance, Commerce and the Budget in which Mr Muturi linked Mr Perera to the two companies.

On First Mercantile, Mr Muturi said Mr Perera had confirmed that he had formed the company on December 11, 2000 and that he had been a director until 2005 together with his wife Ghazala Perera and Chritos Koumbis, his financial adviser.

On Spacenet Inc, he said the firm’s registered office is in McLean, Virginia and is a subsidiary of Gilat Satellite Networks Ltd whose registered office is in Israel.

“By a contract dated September 1, 2002, Spacenet Inc transferred its rights and obligations... to a sister company, Gilat Satellite Networks (Holland) BV, which is also a subsidiary of Gilat Satellite Networks Ltd (Israel)”.

The Israeli subsidiary was contracted by the Postal Corporation of Kenya to supply communication equipment for the parastatal. It then subcontracted the work to Gilat Alldean International, which later became Alldean Satellite Networks Ltd (Kenya), a company said to belong to Mr Perera (see separate story).

Companies have owners
“There has been an allegation that these companies are faceless. On the contrary, the companies have owners and the records as we have here are completely up to date,” Prof Muigai told reporters on Monday.

Prof Muigai has come under increasing pressure to resign from the Law Society of Kenya and from politicians allied to the opposition Coalition for Reform and Democracy (Cord) who at the weekend called for his ouster.

LSK, on the other hand, has threatened to strike the AG off its roll of senior counsel. On Monday, it petitioned Parliament to begin a process of removing Prof Muigai from office (see story on Page 5). It also wrote to the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) requesting for an investigation into a possible crime of “conspiracy to defraud public finances through procurement of an irregular judgment”.

Later in the evening, it emerged that the association had asked the Law Society of England to investigate whether the Anglo Leasing ruling against Kenya in a London court was a conspiracy involving the British judge who handled the case.

In his defence, Prof Muigai said he should not be blamed for the scandal which led Kenya to pay the Sh1.4 billion to the two companies.

Never prosecuted
“The people who signed the contract have never been prosecuted,” he said. “How then were we to prove corruption? We know the people who signed it!”

He also denied allegations that government lawyers had deliberately mishandled the cases involving the two companies, leading Kenya to lose them in the London and Geneva courts.

“Any allegation that these cases were being mishandled for an ulterior motive...nothing could be further from the truth. Nothing could be more libelous of my officer, of my office and of myself,” he said.

“This unwarranted attacking in the media, in public meetings and at funerals to my office, my officers and myself have been injurious. The treatment meted out to me in the last 72 hours is totally unjustified. I very much wish there was a more responsible way.”

On whether the two companies actually supplied the equipment for which they were being paid, Prof Muigai had this to say: “It is not for the Attorney General’s office to say what has been supplied or not. But Ministry of Communications officials and their consultants (PwC) have consistently admitted that the broadband was supplied.”

Githu unmasks Anglo Leasing firms’ directors - News - nation.co.ke

 

[Dr. Job]

They rob us while on our pay roll, and then excuse themselves from responsibility on pretense of saving us from international frown! Where is Uhuru's judgement? What difference does it make that we avoid paying greater interest on the current judgement if we show no seriousness for going after those who got us into the mess by corruption? What will stop them, or their counterparts, from binding us elsewhere?

Uhuru would have looked a leader if he reflected more seriously on the will to bring the white collar scoundrels to judgement than on the decision to pay the unwarranted burden of loot!

 

[Dr. Job]

CORD threatens to impeach President Uhuru Kenyatta as payment row rages

By RAWLINGS OTIENO

Kenya: CORD leaders have argued there is no justification for payment of Sh1.4 billion to Anglo-Leasing companies.


They said the contracts were illegally procured and that Kenya should not commit to fraudulent dealings.
The Opposition also threatened to impeach President Uhuru Kenyatta over his directive to the Treasury to pay the debt. Kakamega Senator Bonny Khalwale asked why the Jubilee government is not implementing what was in the report when Uhuru chaired the Parliamentary Accounts Committee (PAC).

Fleece taxpayers

In 2006, Uhuru, then the Opposition leader, chaired the PAC, which authored the report that described the more than Sh50 billion contracts as a system hatched by a few individuals to continually fleece taxpayers.
See also: TNA tells rivals off over mass action

Khalwale claimed Anglo Leasing companies were owned by two Indians and two Kenyans, whose names are in the report which Uhuru submitted when he was the PAC chairman.

“We are the representatives of the people, and if he goes on doing this he will be the first President in Kenya to be impeached,” warned Khalwale.

In particular, the Opposition coalition dared the National Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich to authorise the payments and face censure Motion in Parliament and Senate.

Deputy Minority Leader Jakoyo Midiwo castigated the move to pay the two companies, terming Uhuru’s authorisation to pay as unconstitutional.

“This is will be the final onslaught to bad governance. Our people cannot keep on suffering because of a few individuals at Harambee House. If Rotich pays this Anglo-Leasing money then, we will jail you, humiliate you and recommend that you are hanged at Uhuru park in public, because this is people’s money and you are the accounting officer,” said Jakoyo.

He went on; “The President has money; if he wants to pay with his own money then he can go ahead and pay, but not the public money.”

Standard Digital News - Kenya : CORD threatens to impeach President Uhuru Kenyatta as payment row rages

 

[Dr. Job]

Fool needs to go!

 

[Jammu Africa]

A divided Opposition party.



Orange MP backs Anglo Leasing pay

An Opposition MP has broken ranks with his party and declared support for the
Anglo Leasing payments.

Mr Abdikadir Omar Aden (Balambala, ODM) told the Nation that the explanations by
Treasury officials and President Uhuru Kenyatta when he met the Budget and
Appropriations Committee on Thursday afternoon “make a lot of sense”.

Mr Aden, who is also in the Budget team, said what certain government officials
did in the past has placed Kenya in the current circumstances and even as the
money is paid, those responsible must be brought to book.

“Paying these commitments is an international obligation that Kenya must honour as
a sovereign state.

The consequences of failing to pay will be that the credit rating of this country will be
extremely poor and we won’t be able to borrow from the international market,” said Mr
Aden.

He said the benefits of issuing the sovereign bond would trickle down to Kenyans because the
government wouldn’t borrow from local banks, which would mean that banks lend to Kenyans at
lower interest rates.

Orange MP backs Anglo Leasing pay - Politics - nation.co.ke

 

[Jammu Africa]

Raila Odinga while speaking from his second home, in the United states,
said that all Anglo-leasing contracts were not corrupt and that only
a fool that will not pay for services that were delivered.:smile-big::smile-big::smile-big:

 

[Jammu Africa]

So, in the opposition, we have people who think with their
heads and others who let others think for them.

I was very opposed to those Anglo-leasing payments and
i even wrote it in this forum.

I hated the Attorney General of Kenya, prof Githu Muigai
for proposing that we do business with the greatest
devil of all devils, this Anglo-leasing thing we hate
without knowing, really what is all about.

Then, on TV saw this man, the solicitor general or
something like that, talking about it and he appeared
very honest of what he talking about.

Then,,,the president appeared and talked to the
nation and explained about the whole matter.

He said that Kenya was at cross road and that
this country will not receive 140 billion shs
from abroad which is in the next budget,
if we do not pay 1.4 billion awarded by
courts from the same countries which
will give Kenya that money.

It is a very long story, and because i
Jammu will never let anybody think for
me, not my mother or Uhuru Kenyatta,
i now understand what AG Githu Muigai
was talking about.

 

[Jammu Africa]

Fool needs to go!

Ha ha ha haaaaaaaaaaaa, hoiyoooo, 🙂and do i remind you that this,
'fool' has numbers and ain't going to anywhere any soon.

You got to get used to this fool and better do it sooner than later and
save yourself unnecessary stress for he will outlive those little enemies
who cannot even bite.

In particular, the Opposition coalition dared the National Treasury Cabinet
Secretary Henry Rotich to authorise the payments and face censure Motion
in Parliament and Senate.

What parliament is Khalwale talking about, this one of 2014, if that the case i
would urge him to stop smoking bhangi.

Jubilee is domineering everywhere in both houses and cord are even worse than
backbenchers.

You cannot impeach president Kenyatta without the support of the Jubilee
party.

Impossible.

Kenyatta is Jubilee and jubilee is Kenyatta.

Kwahivyo wacheni hiyo michezo🙂🙂 ya kupoteza wakati.

 

[simplemind]

Kenya malipo ya ksh 1,4 bilioni sawa na tsh 26 bilioni kishindo hadi ikulu hadi kupelekea rais kutoa ufafanuzi wa kina kwa taifa. Hapa nyumbani kashfa ya bilioni 83 tunachekeana tu.