The East African Standard (Nairobi)
Gakuu Mathenge
1 May 2007
Nairobi — Revelations that an international accounts firm was hired for Sh100 million to audit the controversial Anglo Leasing-type deals has put the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission on the spot.
Through Treasury, the Government engaged Pricewaterhouse Coopers on January 17, to conduct a forensic audit on a list of 18 Anglo leasing-type contracts and determine their legality status.
The Anglo Leasing-type contracts have been under investigation by KACC, which is said to have instigated the outsourcing of the Pricewaterhouse audit services.
The Government's own Auditor General had also scrutinised the contracts and filed a report to Treasury last year.
The Special Audit report dated April 10, last year, recommended that priority action was "to determine the legal status of the companies involved, whose addresses could not be traced in the countries they claimed to be domiciled".
"They may not be bona fide trading companies. This would give the Government an upper hand in determining the fate of such contracts," Auditor General, Mr Evans Mwai, wrote.
Former Transparency International boss, Mr Mwalimu Mati, questioned the rationale of spending money to repeat a job that had been concluded by the Auditor General.
But few Government officials are willing to comment on the matter.
On Monday, neither the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs PS, Ms Dorothy Angote, nor her Legal Affairs Department Director, Mr Gichira Kibaara, could be reached.
The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights chairman, Mr Maina Kiai, questioned Treasury's role in investigating Anglo-Leasing scandals.
KACC is allocated Sh1.2 billion every year to investigate economic crimes.
"It raises questions whether Treasury had lost confidence in KACC to investigate economic crimes. Determination of legal status of Anglo-Leasing is a lawyer's job, not an accountant's," Kiai said.
"Evans Mwai reported to Parliament that he had submitted detailed reports of the 18 individual (Anglo leasing-type) contracts. He said detailed reports had been issued to the respective accounting officers with copies to the Treasury. The question is, what has Treasury done with them since then?" Mate posed.
Contacted for comment, Laikipia West MP, Mr G G Kariuki, who chairs the Defence and Foreign Affairs committee, said the anti-corruption war had become a cash cow for Government departments and their friends to make quick bucks and a political tool to bash political opponents. Kariuki has been lobbying for establishment of a parliamentary committee on corruption "to shield anti-corruption agencies from political manipulation and innocent citizens from being unfairly lynched in the guise of fighting graft."
A Nairobi human rights lawyer, Mr Haroun Ndubi, said Parliament should demand for explanation on how PWHC had been allowed to search the country's security installations for information that was denied to Public Accounts Committee (PAC) last year on grounds of national security concerns.
"PAC, a public accountability agency, was denied information on account of security concerns. Someone needs to explain why it is possible to grant access to the same information to a private entity," he said.
On Friday, a group of 16 civil society groups issued a press statement demanding Ringera's immediate resignation on account of incompetence.
Former Cabinet minister, Dr Chris Murungaru also wrote to the Attorney General, demanding investigation and prosecution of Justice Ringera over alleged abuse of office.
In a press statement, Murungaru said the KACC director had resorted to illegal methods to search for information to fix him.
"KACC has proceeded to intimidate my bankers by requiring them to allow for search and acquisition of all information relating to my businesses," Murungaru said without naming the bank.
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