From left: Rashmi Kamani, Deepak Kamani, David Onyonka and Dave Mwangi in a Milimani court, Nairobi. They were acquitted of Anglo-Leasing charges.
The last of the Anglo Leasing-related cases was concluded yesterday with the acquittal of businessmen and former government officials accused of complicity in a scandal that made the government lose billions of shillings in dubious contracts.
With the acquittal of businessmen Deepak and Rashmi Kamani and former Permanent Secretaries Dave Mwangi, Joseph Magari and David Onyonka, Kenyans’ hopes of getting another conviction in the scam were dashed. Anti-corruption court chief magistrate Felix Kombo freed the five for lack of evidence.
From the 18 security-related contracts, only Mr Sylvester Mwaliko, a former Permanent Secretary for Home Affairs, has been convicted. The former PS was found guilty in September 2012 and fined Sh3 million with an alternative three-year jail term.
Former Finance Minister in the Narc government David Mwiraria and businessman Chananlal Kamani died while the case was pending in court. They were charged following 10-year investigations by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission in Kenya, the UK and Switzerland.
Businessman Deepak Kamani (right) and former PS Dave Mwangi at the Milimani anti-corruption court during the judgment of the Anglo Leasing scandal case.
The businessmen and former government officials were accused of conspiracy to defraud the government of Euros 40 million (about Sh7.05 billion at the current exchange rates) between October 30, 2003, and April 14, 2004, in Nairobi.
The contract was meant to modernise the Police Security Equipment and Accessories Project through companies identified as Sound Day Corporation and Apex Finance.
“The charges were a culmination of over 10 years of investigations since the Anglo-Leasing scandal came into the public limelight,” the magistrate said.
While acquitting the accused, Mr Kombo noted that there was selective prosecution and failure to call key witnesses, who were the main players in the project, to shed more light. He said former Interior minister Chris Murungaru was not prosecuted, yet he played a key role in the initiation of the security upgrade project.
“Having examined the evidence presented in court, I have come to the conclusion that the prosecution has failed to prove a case against the accused to warrant this court to put the accused on their defence.”
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Gaps
Mr Kombo said there were glaring contradictions and inconsistencies in the prosecution’s case and opined that perhaps the suspects had been charged “selectively” after “those who were intimate with the procedures were like the former Internal Security minister Dr Murungaru and former Attorney General Amos Wako.”
Mr Kombo said the assertion that Sound Day Corporation was non-existent was far-fetched as it had a long history of dealings with the government of Kenya in the 1990s. “For instance, Sound Day was known in government circles since the 1990s and could not be a phantom company.”
He ruled that procurement procedures were properly followed and the budget allocation to the project was in order, having perused the evidence brought to court. The magistrate said nothing was out of place in the procedures.
“The government had a legal obligation to pay the contractual fees,” he said, adding that claims that the project had not been budgeted for were not supported.
“I find that the evidence before me fails to stand the test.”
