E-Clips:- Business Pictorial - Graft Watchdog Criticises Justice Minister

Anti-corruption watchdog, Transparency International, yesterday protested at Cabinet Minister Kiraitu Murungi’s dismissal of the Anglo Leasing scandal as a "non issue." The watchdog said Murungi’s statement put to doubt the Government’s commitment to fighting corruption— one of Narc’s campaign pledges.

Kiraitu, who is Minister for Justice and Constitutional Affairs, said the Sh7billion Anglo Leasing affair had been blown out of proportion and described it as a "scandal that never was."

The scandal, unearthed in April, last year, involved a Sh800 million contract to supply new generation passports, which was then inflated to cost Sh2.7 billion. It was awarded to a shadowy firm known as Anglo Leasing Finance Limited, which had given a non-existent address in the UK.

Another Sh4 billion scandal involving the shadowy firm was for the construction of a forensic lab for the Criminal Investigations Department

Yesterday, the watchdog said: "First and foremost, the minister’s statements are contemptuous to efforts to establish the truth about the dealings between the Government and the company."

"Murungi contradicted President Kibaki’s adviser on Corruption, Mr John Githongo, on the Government’s efforts to unravel the Anglo Leasing mystery," a statement signed by Transparency Kenya’s executive director Gladwell Otieno said.. Githongo is the PS in charge of Governance and Ethics.

Earlier in the week, Githongo said the case was "hanging around the neck of the Government like a millstone.’

He indicated investigations were still going on and suspects may be prosecuted soon. The watchdog body, however, said there seemed to be a lack of unity of purpose within the Government in fighting graft. "We remind the Minister that his is the lead government ministry in the fight against corruption, while the PS Governance and Ethics is the is the president’s advisor on issues of anti-corruption," Otieno said

She said the minister had insulted the intelligence of Kenyans because a lot is already known about the scandal. The watchdog further criticised the arrest of Standard editor Kwamchetsi Makokha under a repressive criminal libel law on the orders of National Security Minister Dr Chris Murungaru.

"These incidents underline growing disquiet at an apparent return to the era of impunity and the unbridled arrogance of power to which Kenyans thought they had put an end with their resounding vote in 2002," it said. It added that public officials should be prepared to be subjected to scrutiny.