Anglo Leasing - Moi Govt s Officials To Give Statements The People Daily 28 July 2004
Senior officials in retired president Daniel Moi s administration are expected to record statements with Kenya Anti-corruption Commission over the now infamous Anglo Leasing and Finance scams, we have established.
An impeccable source told The People Daily KACC has summoned senior officials, most of whom have since retired, to detail how the two phantom security projects were initiated and tenders awarded through single sourcing.
We were informed that the investigators are keen to get first-hand briefing about the history of the projects in order to find out at what point the idea to upgrade security systems was hijacked by unscrupulous officials to make a fortune for themselves.
They are particularly interested in establishing how the current administration took over the projects, expanded them and allocated funds in a manner that depicts shocking negligence or connivance to defraud taxpayers. They are worth Shs 7 billion.
In the first deal, a Shs 850 million contract to supply terrorist-proof passport was expanded into a Shs 2.7 billion project by National Rainbow Coalition and awarded to Anglo Leasing and Finance without being subjected to competitive bidding as required by law.
In the second, the Narc administration paid Shs 242 million to Anglo Leasing even though it had not started implementing the lucrative contract to build a forensic sciences laboratory for CID awarded by the Kanu regime.
The money was paid under mysterious circumstances because no work had been done at the site after the shadowy firm was paid a commitment fee of US$ 900,000 (then Shs 72 million) by the Kanu administration immediately after the contract was signed.
The directive comes in the wake of mounting pressure on the government from donors, civil society, religious and political leaders to unearth the mystery behind the two cancelled security projects worth Shs 7 billion.
Among those summoned to appear before the investigators this week, we were reliably informed, are former influential permanent secretary Zakayo Cheruiyot and former financial secretary Samuel Bundotich.
Cheruiyot was the permanent secretary in the office of the president in charge of internal security and provincial administration when the new contentious forensic laboratory project was initiated by the Criminal Investigation department.
However, according to a string of correspondence between the office of the President, Treasury and Forensic Laboratories, Cheruiyot only wrote two letters – one authorizing the visit of an expert to assess the situation and another seeking clearance from then finance minister Chris Okemo.
On July 30, 2001, then head of civil service Sally Kosgei conveyed to Cheruiyot the cabinet approval for use of lease financing for the “high priority security project of forensic laboratory”. Cheruiyot, in turn, wrote to Treasury PS Mwangazi Mwachofi on August 1, 2001 requesting the convention of a meeting five days later.
On August 8, 2001, J.F.A Agili of the office of the president forwarded four sets of contract documents – contract No Kenya. OP/FSL/2001/01 – for action.
However, the documents were returned to the OP unsigned the following day with the advice that laid down government procurement and tendering procedures, as contained in Legal Notice No 51 of 2001, be followed and confirmation be made that funds are available.