Mwau moves to court in latest battle with US

Embattled Kilome MP John Harun Mwau has taken his latest battle with the US to the High Court.

Mr Mwau also blamed his inclusion on a list of drug barons on forces out to grab his businesses in the country.

However, the MP only disclosed that he owned several real estate properties and a bank account in America.

“The truth of the matter is that some people in the US are after my businesses; they should tell me politely if they want me to surrender the businesses to them, but not use unorthodox tactics to secure what is rightfully my sweat,” the MP said.

“With all their state of the art surveillance, why didn’t they detect my said criminal nature for all those years?” he posed, adding: “I have stated this fact before and I am repeating it once again. I have never and will never be involved in drug trafficking or other ills that present a negative picture.”

In an application filed through Allois Kwengu of Kwengu and Company advocates, Mr Mwau named former US ambassador Michael Ranneberger as the first defendant.

“It is true I was in the High Court in the morning as it was necessary to file the application today,” he said.

The MP blamed his woes on Mr Ranneberger, saying, he had fed President Barack Obama with malicious reports about him.

“The US embassy has been trailing me using its vehicles. The first incident which I reported to the police was in January this year; the second incident happened soon after I filed a case against the then US ambassador Michael Ranneberger,” he said.

A defiant Mr Mwau said the sanctions will not cripple his business empire, estimated at billions of shillings.

“Serious businessmen are focusing their eyes on China and Asia as a whole. For the last ten years I have been dealing heavily with the Asian connection; Chinese banks have nothing that ties them to the US institutions or government. As far as I am concerned I am safe, and I am not missing my sleep.”

The MP said he was not worried about being hunted by the US.

“I will not miss travelling to the US, actually it is no longer comfortable for one to fly to the US — you don’t know whether you will arrive there safely, not with all the enemies who are after the US.”

Mr Mwau asked for evidence linking him to the illicit trade.

“I am on record fighting bad governance. I have taken a President to court as well as the Attorney-General. I have fought corruption and I have never sold a cigarette in my life, how can they accuse me of trading in drugs.”

He said it was easy to trace drug barons and the US government was aware of this fact.

“In Kenya, many people have been arrested peddling drugs, the trace has never come towards my direction. I have stated this fact before and I am repeating it once again; I have never and will never be involved in drug trafficking or other ills that present a negative picture”.

The MP said he will concentrate on his constituents.

“Kilome voters gave me a mandate and I won’t let them down. I still have some two years to complete the contract they gave me, that is where my focus is for now and these distractions want destroy me.”

Mr Mwau was named with businesswoman Naima Mohamed Nyakiniwa and five others from Mexico, Afghanistan and Kyrgyzstan as ‘significant foreign narcotics traffickers’.

The others are Manuel Torres Felix (Mexico), Gonzalo Inzunza Inzunza (Mexico), Haji Lal Jan Ishaqzai (Afghanistan), Kamchybek Asanbekovich Kolbayev (Kyrgyzstan) and Javier Antonio Calle Serna (Colombia).

They were then slapped with harsh economic sanctions by the US government under the Kingpin Act.

According to the tough restrictions, any US citizen who does business with the suspects risks going to jail for 30 years or being fined up to Sh400 million.

Those listed as drug traffickers stand to lose all their property in the US, or any business in which they have an interest. This is because many international financial transfers are processed in the US.

The Kingpin Act, signed into law on December 3, 1999, gives the US government power to seize property belonging to people the President believes are drug dealers.

It also gives the government authority to block the property of any person or company “materially assisting in, or providing financial or technological support for or to, or providing goods or services in support of, the international narcotics trafficking activities of a person”.

Ms Nyakiniywa, also known as “Mama Lela,” heads one of the largest drug trafficking ring operating out of Nairobi.

It is believed that her network coordinates drug shipments and links suppliers with couriers to transport drugs to Europe and the US. Asian heroin, Latin American cocaine, and precursor chemicals used to produce synthetic drugs, and typically supplies narcotics to associate members who operate their own drug trafficking businesses.

It has also been reported that Mama Lela, has three different passports and is among three Kenyans being held in Tanzania after being found with five kilos of cocaine valued at 22 million Kenyan Shillings.

Mr Mwau on the other hand, the US official say was actively engaged in importing narcotics into Kenya and protecting narcotics traffickers.

The official believes that the MP may have begun his involvement in narcotics trafficking while serving on the police force and travelling overseas to compete in shooting competitions.

He is believed to have used the overseas events and his policy status to move narcotics.

On Friday, the former Transport assistant minister’s aides accused former US Ambassador Mr Michael Raneberger for the economic sanctions slammed upon him by President Barack Obama.

The aide who asked not to be named said Mr Mwau was not surprised by the US move coming just a few months after Mr Ranneberger left the country after his tour of duty ended.

Mr Mwau took on Mr Ranneberger soon in parliament and later on filed a case against the US envoy soon after he linked him and three other MPs to money laundering and drug dealing.

The case which Mr Mwau filed against Mr Ranneberger will come up next week.

“Mr Ranneberger gave a misleading report which the US government relied upon to punish our boss”, says a close aide.

“We would like the US government to lay bear their evidence against Mwau, who are his associates in the drug empire and if indeed they have the dossier why are they keeping it to themselves, Mr Mwau will be much interested like anyone else to know these details”, says the aide.

He said that the MP believed the envoy gave a misleading report to his government.

Mr Davies Musau, another of his close associate said Mr Mwau would weather the current storm.

“He is a seasoned politician and business magnate, these are some of the ups and downs that comes at one time in life, Mr Mwau will weather the storm, a ban in the US will not affect his political or business ambitions”, says Mr Musau in Machakos.

A number of Kilome constituents interviewed by the nation yesterday described the ordeal facing their MP as ‘a storm in a tea cup’.

“We love him and we will accept him the way he is, he has done a lot for us”, says Teresiah Munuve, 73.

His constituents have every reason to stick to their MP after Kilome constituency was recently voted among the top in the management of the Constituency Development Fund in the country.

“He is a good manager and a smart politician too, I can’t believe this”, says schoolteacher Alfred Mutinda.

Mr Mwau has shown keen interest in contesting the Makueni senate seat in next year’s elections.

But critics say the move by the US government will definitely affect Mwau’s businesses locally and internationally.

“The move by the US government has come with some strings attached and this is where the dent will be seen”, said a close aide of Mr Mwau.