Nairobi — Former Ethics Permanent Secretary John Githongo now says there is more on the Sh 7 billion Anglo Leasing scandal that is yet to be revealed.

"It's not over. It's just starting. Right now about 30 per cent has come out," Mr Githongo said of the mega-corruption scandal that has shaken the Narc Government to its very core, forcing the resignation of two Cabinet ministers.

He made the revelation during an interview with The New York Times, which was published on Saturday. In a separate interview with The Guardian, Githongo called on the UK authorities to launch a full investigation into a number of British businessmen, whose multi-million dollar contracts are at the centre of Kenya's latest corruption scandal.

And on Monday, Justice and Constitutional Affairs minister Martha Karua announced that investigations to unmask those who wired back Sh1 billion that had been paid for suspicious contracts were almost complete.

"Treasury has confirmed and there is documentary evidence that all the money, slightly over Sh1 billion, has been returned," Karua said.

Speaking to journalists shortly after she addressed a regional conference on the human rights dimension of corruption at a Nairobi hotel, Karua said the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission (Kacc) was finalising its investigations, which would then promptly be followed by the prosecution of the culprits.

Githongo, who fled to Britain last year fearing for his life after discovering that senior Government officials were involved in covering up the corrupt deals, recently met with the director of Kacc, Mr Justice Aaron Ringera.

He had previously testified before the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee in London.

Money paid to fictitious firms

The PAC is currently finalising its report on Anglo Leasing after interviewing people named by Githongo in his evidence and a damning dossier on the scandal in which the Government paid millions of shillings to fictitious firms.

Githongo's revelations, contained in a document sent to President Kibaki in November last year and implicating a number of then Cabinet ministers, resulted in the resignation of Mr David Mwiraria from his position as Finance minister.

Mr Kiraitu Murungi was also forced to resign after the BBC broadcast a tape recording of his conversation with Githongo in which he was heard asking the then PS to "go slow" on an investigation. Kibaki had earlier dropped Dr Chris Murungaru, who also featured in the dossier, from the Cabinet.

The scandal is expected to be top in the agenda when Parliament reopens on Tuesday after a five-month recess. Parliament is deeply divided over corruption, especially on the Anglo Leasing scam.

On Sunday, PAC chairman and Leader of Official Opposition, Uhuru Kenyatta, said he would mobilise MPs to put the Government on spot over the Anglo Leasing scandal, the alleged presence of mercenaries in the country and the recent raid on the Standard Group.

With Githongo's latest announcement that there's more yet to be revealed on the mega corruption, it is unclear how many more people could go down with the scandal.

According to The Guardian report, published on Sunday, Kenyan investigators are looking at several individuals and companies from the UK that were given security and defence-related contracts worth up to US$350 million.

Personal kickbacks

It says Kacc investigations have found evidence that some of the money was paid to legitimate firms for goods or schemes that were overpriced, or that contracts were awarded to bogus companies with non-existent finance companies offering fictitious loans.

In return, it is alleged that officials and members of the country's elite received personal "kickbacks" as well as using the money for political campaigning, says the report.

"Although first details of the so-called Anglo Leasing scandal - named after one of the bogus companies involved - were revealed two years ago, the scale of the British involvement in the racket is only now emerging," notes the report.

In meetings with Home Office and Foreign Office officials, Mr Githongo has urged Britain to carry out a full inquiry. "The British government would be doing Kenyans a big favour if it took a more robust interest in some of these figures," he told The Guardian.

Earlier, Githongo told The New York Times from Oxford, England: "My attitude is that I'm going to continue here for a while, forcing a change."

But asked if he planned to run for President, he said: "Everybody asks me this My actions here have put me in a political realm."

Then he added: "I have no rural constituency. I have betrayed my entire tribe and the elite around the President - which still has them spluttering with rage. But then I don't really give a hoot about that. So my attitude is that I'm going to continue here for a while, forcing a change."

Money returned

Anglo Leasing Finance is the firm at the centre of two massive tendering scandals worth nearly Sh7 billion. The Government paid out money in commitment fees, which were then wired back secretly when the red flag was raised.

The identity of the "ghosts" refunding the money is itself becoming a scandal since it is difficult believing that the Government received the money from unknown people.

On Monday, Karua said she could not talk about the suspects involved in the scandal since Kacc was still investigating the matter. She said investigations were now focusing on who returned the money so that action could be taken on all those involved.

She added that a crime was committed despite the fact that all the money, which had been paid out to the firm by Narc government had been returned "Although money was returned, the movement of the cash constituted a criminal offence. Those who returned the money will not walk away Scot-free," she said.

The minister said the Anglo Leasing scandal started during the previous Kanu regime. The three-day conference, which is organised by the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights, will discuss the human rights dimension of corruption.

Permanent secretary in the ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs Dorothy Angote also attended the conference.