Mugumo Munene
26 April 2004
Nairobi — The Goldenberg commission has written to a London bank seeking evidence on its alleged involvement in a suspect transaction through which Kenya lost Sh6.5 billion.
The commission, in a letter signed by joint secretaries George Kegoro and William Ouko, wants Banque Indosuez Sogem Aval to send Mr Andrew Freeman, the official who signed a $100 million (Sh7.6 billion) deal with the Central Bank in 1993, to Nairobi to testify before it.
The bank is based in Paris, but the London branch specialises in debts buying.
The summoning of Mr Freeman shows the direction the inquiry is taking, coming so soon after chairman Samuel Bosire told the team that it should wind up within one-and-half months.
The commission is also expected to hear evidence in its final stages from the "big five"- Goldenberg International owner Kamlesh Pattni, two former Finance ministers George Saitoti and Musalia Mudavadi, former Treasury Permanent Secretary Charles Mbindyo and former Central Bank governor Micah Cheserem. Witnesses have told the inquiry that, when the deal was struck, Kenya was suffering from a foreign currency crunch as a result of a credit freeze by the donors.
Desperate to meet the conditions, a cash-strapped Central Bank, then led by Mr Eric Kotut, entered into an agreement with Banque Indosuez where the foreign firm would reflect a credit of $100 million in its books, while CBK would reflect a Sh6.5 billion deposit in Nairobi.
It is intriguing that the deal was brokered by tycoon Kamlesh Pattni, then the Exchange Bank executive chairman.
It has emerged in evidence that the Exchange Bank deputy executive chairman Mr Sayyed Taheri, travelled to London and offered Banque Indosuez $500,000 as "fees" or their role.
More pointedly, after the deal was struck, Exchange Bank fraudulently ended up with the Sh6.5 billion in its coffers although CBK never received the dollars.
Meanwhile, former CBK deputy governor Eliphaz Riungu returns to the witness box today to resume his testimony after the weekend break.
Mr Riungu is expected to wind up today and give way for witnesses who will testify on the banks which caved in in 1993 and which had handled Goldenberg-related money.
Among these are Trade Bank and Delphis Bank.
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