CID to launch fresh probe on Goldenberg

Hopes that key figures in the multi-billion shilling Goldenberg scandal could swiftly be prosecuted were dashed yesterday when top Government officials ordered fresh CID investigations into Kenya's biggest fraud.

A high-level meeting chaired by Justice minister Martha Karua decided the recommendations made by Mr Justice Samuel Bosire's commission of inquiry could not lead to automatic convictions.

Instead, the country's top legal and investigations team concluded that new investigations were necessary before anyone could be charged with helping to fleece the country of around Sh20 billion in the fake compensation scandal.

But the meeting did agree that those new investigations should begin at once, and be led by the CID director, Mr Joseph Kamau.

Officials close to Ms Karua said the CID team should summon and question afresh everyone adversely named in the Bosire report, as well as interview witnesses who could back up the prosecution cases in court.

After the President received the report of the Goldenberg Commission of Inquiry from its chairman Mr Justice Bosire, anticipation was high that key people named in the document would immediately be arrested and charged.

"I'm very grateful for your efforts," Mr Kibaki told the Bosire team after he received their report.

He added: "I'm sure we shall take the action recommended in this report. We shall read the report and see what you say should be done and I know it will be done."

The report is understood to recommend the prosecution of President Kibaki's Education minister, Prof George Saitoti, also the man branded by the commission as the Goldenberg architect, businessman Kamlesh Pattni. It also urges further investigations into the role played by former President Moi. 

Prof Saitoti served as Mr Moi's Vice-President and Finance minister for over a decade and is now a Cabinet minister in the Kibaki Government. 

The Goldenberg report was released as President Kibaki was reeling under the weight of the Anglo Leasing scandal that has enveloped his Government.

Already, one of his main allies, Mr David Mwiraria, has resigned as Finance minister, while two other powerful figures – Vice-President Moody Awori and Energy minister Kiraitu Murungi – are defying pressure to quit. 

Several Anglo Leasing type scandals involving contracts worth billions of shillings are being investigated by the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission.

All eyes are now on President Kibaki as he grapples with how to handle the twin scandals that touch powerful figures in both his Government and that of former President Moi. 

The crux of his dilemma is that acting on Anglo Leasing could cost him pillars of his beleaguered Government, while prosecuting people over Goldenberg will create new enemies among groups he needs for political survival.

The meeting at Ms Karua's office at Cooperative House, Nairobi, was attended by Mr Kamau, Attorney General Amos Wako, and the Director of Public Prosecutions, Mr Keriako Tobiko, while KACC director Aaron Ringera was represented by his deputy Ms Fatuma Sichela, who is also KACC'S assistant director in charge of prosecutions.

Ms Karua, Mr Wako, Mr Ringera and Mr Kamau were among top Government officials at State House when Mr Bosire presented his report to President Kibaki 

Ms Karua and the other officials first met on Friday and each was given a copy of the Bosire report. They agreed to meet again yesterday after studying the document over the weekend.

Officials close to Ms Karua told the Nation that Mr Kamau will use the Bosire report as the foundation of the fresh investigations.

Mr Kamau, who served as the director of the Central Bank's fraud unit for almost ten years, was the chief investigator of the Goldenberg scandal from the time it was exposed in mid 1990s and at the inquiry.

Fresh investigations by the CID could simply repeat the efforts of Mr Justice Bosire's 297-day inquiry at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre, and cover the work Mr Kamau had already done while at the CBK.

The Bosire commission – which ran from February 2003 to November 2005 – cost Sh400 million.

Many of those named in the Bosire report, and recommended either for criminal prosecution or further investigation, had already been questioned and recorded statements before the commission was set up by President Kibaki.

Indeed, some of those cited in the recommendations had already been charged over the fraud while Mr Moi was still president.

More than ten Goldenberg-related cases which were before the court were overtaken by events with the appointment of the Bosire commission and had to be withdrawn.

The Bosire commission stopped short of ordering the arrest of major figures in the Goldenberg scandal but made a wide range of recommendations.

It is anticipated that the fresh investigations will determine which assets held by some of these major figures can be attached to recover cash lost in the scandal, other than the Grand Regency hotel, which Mr Bosire said was the only tangible property which the commission could identify as having been bought with the looted Goldenberg billions.

The report puts both Mr Pattni and Prof Saitoti on the spot. It is understood the commission found them both guilty of grave wrongdoing and recommended that they should face criminal prosecution.

Mr Bosire told President Kibaki that the Goldenberg scheme was based on payments being made for the fictitious export of gold and diamonds by Goldenberg International Ltd., whose driving force was Mr Pattni. In addition, money was made through illegal foreign exchange deals.

The report also makes recommendations about the future of some 70 other people said to have been involved in the illegal export compensation scheme which brought the country's economy to its knees under the Moi administration.

The report is understood to spotlight the activities of a number of top officials in Mr Moi's administration.

They include Mr Moi's former personal assistant, Mr Joshua Kulei, former Treasury permanent secretaries Joseph Magari, Charles Mbindyo and Wilfred Karuga Koinange, the former Commissioner of Mines and Geology, Mr Collins Owayo, former Commissioner of Customs and Excise, Mr Francis Cheruiyot, former Central Bank of Kenya Governor Eric Kotut, the former general manager of Kenya Commercial Bank, Mr Elijah arap Bii, and the former deputy governor of the Central Bank, Mr Elphas Riungu.