E-Clips:- Business Pictorial - Awori And Ministers Named In Report Over Scandal

Vice President Moody Awori and key ministers in the Kibaki Government were indeed involved in the Anglo Leasing scandal, Parliaments watchdog committee has found. Its damning verdict comes in a stinging report to Parliament, which reveals the MPs also found President Kibaki himself was fully aware of the scandal as it unfolded.

He was briefed by former anti-corruption czar John Githongo and other members of the Government at every stage, they say. People involved in negotiating and approving the Sh2.7 billion Anglo Leasing security passports project should be prosecuted, the all-party committee says.

Its report, tabled in Parliament yesterday, is harshly critical of the V-P, Mr Awori, accusing him of having no regard for Parliament and of not telling the truth when he told the Public Accounts Committee he was not involved in the Anglo Leasing project, which was negotiated by the Home Affairs ministry of which he was in charge. It finds him "sufficiently involved to take responsibility for its shortcomings" – and urges that his conduct should be investigated. The committee found Mr Awori took part in decisions on the implementation of the passports deal, contrary to his repeated public denials.

He did so by writing to his former permanent secretary, Mr Sylvester Mwaliko, telling him to go ahead with the project and even suggested to him that the interest rate on the loan from Anglo Leasing should be lowered. "If the V-P wanted the committee to believe that he only had a peripheral role in the processing of the Anglo Leasing contracts, this would be an abdication of his responsibility," the committee concluded.

Others the watchdogs want probed are former Finance minister David Mwiraria and former Energy minister Kiraitu Murungi – then the Justice and Constitutional Affairs minister – with a view to taking what the committee calls "appropriate action".

Mr Mwiraria

The MPs found Mr Mwiraria gave the impression of being overwhelmed by the responsibilities of his office. Although he has since resigned to pave the way for investigations, the committee found: "He was deliberately outrightly incompetent and was overwhelmed by the responsibilities of his office, or was remiss with a view to giving Anglo Leasing principals an advantage."

On Mr Murungi, the committee found he acted to protect former Transport minister Chris Murungaru and Mr Alfred Getonga, the former personal assistant to the President.

It recommends he should be investigated for the attempts he made to cover up the scandal, including the pressure he brought on Mr Githongo, through threats of legal action over a loan made by businessman Anura Perera to his father. The committee accepted the authenticity of a tape recording in which Mr Murungi allegedly said that Mr Perera has been involved in security matters and that he supported "our chief" when he was in hospital, in 1997 and 2002.

Mr Murungi

The committee wants Mr Murungi investigated to establish the possibility of his interference in the Judiciary, including the appointment of Mr Keriako Tobiko as Director of Public Prosecution to replace Mr Philip Murgor, and the removal of a special magistrate for corruption cases at a critical moment.

The team casts doubt on the competence of Attorney-General Amos Wako and the Head of Public Service Francis Muthaura, both of whom are described as incapable of exercising the functions of their offices. On Mr Wako it states: "The committee finds him negligent in representing his client but keen on paperwork to shield himself."

The Treasury, and to some degree the Kenya Law Office and the Central Bank of Kenya, are criticised for what the PAC terms the abdication of their role to protect public funds and for failing to advise the Government that Anglo Leasing-type contracts were not value for money. Regarding Mr Kibakis knowledge of the scandal, the committee states: "The fact that top civil servants were sacked on authority of the President, clearly points to adequate information having been provided to him, a fact that was confirmed in testimony by the Head of Public Service," the report states.

And it was also worth noting, it says, that the President directed Mr Githongo to investigate Mr Merlyn Kettering – one of the lynchpins of Anglo-Leasing – and to ensure funds paid to the company were refunded, the committee observed.

And the MPs asked: "Even if it is accepted that Mr Githongo never briefed the President, as may be claimed, other persons also testified that the President received appropriate briefing." Specifically on the President, the PAC committee reports in the 59-page dossier that Mr Githongo, Mr Mwiraria and Mr Muthaura confirmed in their evidence that the President was kept abreast of the matter. Mr Githongo told the committee that he had even informed the President of his practice of taping senior Government officials to collect evidence.

He did this because he knew there was no documentary proof of political involvement but there were clear pronouncements showing their participation in the Anglo Leasing type deals. The committee headed by leader of official Opposition Uhuru Kenyatta wants the Government to implement the findings of the team within the next two months.

They include further investigations into the involvement of key figures linked to the scandal to be undertaken by the AG, the Director of the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission, Mr Aaron Ringera, and Police Commissioner Hussein Ali. On the AG, the committee accuses him of having been unable to show that he took adequate steps to ensure the Anglo Leasing agreement was favourable to the Government.

"The committee found him incapable of advising his client adequately and a little too late to be charged with undertaking any meaningful reforms in the Kenya Law Office," it says. The MPs also found that although they were told of a host of reforms the AG intended to make, it was difficult to believe that Mr Wako was not aware of the weaknesses of his department considering that he has been in office since 1991.

Mr Wako

Mr Wakos office was also accused of attempting to mislead the committee while it had raised serious issues regarding Anglo Leasing and Finance Ltd., among them being why the payment to the firm should not be pegged to performance.

Mr Kenyattas committee found that Mr Muthaura released an advertisement to the media saying that there had been no wrongdoing by anybody in the Anglo Leasing, which was calculated to reduce the mounting public pressure at the time. "The Head of Civil Service as detailed above either deliberately misled the committee or is incompetent in his duties. Further investigation is desirous to establish these facts," it states.

Mr Muthaura

Mr Muthaura told the PAC that all payments to the security related contracts had been stopped pending finalisation of the audit by the Controller and Auditor General.

However, to his surprise, the committee told him none was stopped . The MPs argued that a decision of such magnitude could not have been taken without his knowledge. The report presented to Parliament is a culmination of close to 50 days of collecting evidence that took the PAC to the United Kingdom where they interviewed Mr Githongo before returning to Nairobi to question others adversely mentioned.

It received evidence from 19 people which also indicated that the Government was set to lose Sh62 billion in Anglo Leasing type scandals. Already Sh15.8 billion had been paid out by June last year to some of the 18 security contracts that were shadowy.

The committee did not spare the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission, which it said removed names of senior politicians named in the scandal and preferred to take PSs and other junior officers to court. The report catalogues a series of misdeeds and omissions of people and institutions pointing out weaknesses, which largely might have led to the scandal and also some of their strengths that could have led to it being uncovered.

The committee spotlights the weaknesses of the Treasury in relation to individual ministries where, for instance, it continues to service debts without checking to establish whether or not projects on the ground were going on. Its relation with the Central Bank through which external loans are paid also came under scrutiny with the CBK being credited for insisting on knowing which payments should be made, as queries were being raised in Parliament over Anglo Leasing and Finance Ltd.

In the raft of its recommendations, it is suggested that investigations be conducted to find out individuals – be they ministers or other associates – who worked with former permanent secretaries Mr Mwaliko and Mr Zakayo Cheruiyot, then the internal security PS, who are both facing charges related to the scandal. Throughout his evidence, Mr Githongo implicates Mr Murungi, Dr Murungaru and Mr Mwiraria for attempting to interfere with his investigations and subsequent attempts to cover up.

Mr Githongo told the committee that sometimes he carried dictaphones to meetings especially if he thought that important matters would be discussed, and that the President was aware of this practice. Mr Githongo told the committee that he took the tape recording seriously when he realised he was going to leave the Government.

According to the report, the committee largely accepted all of Mr Githongos evidence, some of which was heard on tape recordings of key ministers in the Kibaki Administration and which had been released worldwide. It goes further to accept Mr Githongos evidence that he had specifically warned the V-P against signing the contract and that he also briefed him on his concerns on the matter during a lunch session in the V-Ps residence.

It was also recalled that Mr Awori defended the contract in a ministerial statement in Parliament saying it was valid and that he had exonerated himself from any wrongdoing. But on the evidence of Mr Mwaliko, it was shown that the V-P was involved in the procurement of the contract and was kept informed at every stage.

Mr Mwaliko gave a memo in which the V-P after reading a brief prepared for him gave his approval through a memo in which he authorised him to submit the contract documents to the AG and Treasury for due diligence. The committee further argues that the V-P "misleadingly" defended the reputation of the Anglo Leasing in his ministerial statement.

Other highlights of their recommendations include ending Anglo Leasing-

type contracts, renegotiating those that had started and forming a Parliamentary Security Committee to scrutinise such projects. PAC also wants security-related contracts tabled in Parliament and says they should receive Cabinet approval before contracts are signed.

They also propose that the law that requires the President to give consent before any security issues can be discussed by Parliamentary committees should be changed. In addition, the MPs recommend that decisions by Parliament and assurances made by ministers from the floor of the House should be implemented within 60 days and that future proceedings of committees should be heard in public.