Nims

This scandal was captured in the report realesed in February 2006 by the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) and the local chapter of Transparency International. The report uncovered that between January 2003 and September 2004, the National Rainbow Coalition government spent about $12-million on cars that were mostly for the personal use of senior government officials. The vehicles included 57 Mercedes-Benz, as well as Land Cruisers, Mitsubishi Pajeros, Range Rovers, Nissan Terranos and Nissan Patrols.

The $12-million was way above what the government spent over the 2003/04 financial year on controlling malaria – “the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in Kenya”, says the report. Posing the question, does lives of the ‘Common Mwananchi‘ really matter?

Popularly know by many as the Anglo Leasing scandal. The Anglo Leasing is the company behind the deal. In this particular deal, the government wanted to buy a sophisticated £20 Million passport equipment system from France to replace the old passport printing system.

The transaction was originally quoted at 6 million euros from François Charles Oberthur of Paris (a supplier of Visa and MasterCards) but was however controversially awarded to a British firm, the Anglo-Leasing and Finance Company Limited, at 30 million euros. This is more than twice the initial quote, Anglo Leasing would have easily sub-contracted the same French firm to do the work and keep the profit. Despite the lack of competitive tendering Anglo Leasing was paid a “commitment fee” of more than £600,000 in advance.

Anglo Leasing’s agent was a Liverpool-based firm, Saagar Associates, owned by a 47-year-old Kenyan woman, Mrs Sudha Ruparell, whose family enjoyed close links with senior officials in the Moi regime. Ruparell is the daughter of Chamanlal Kamani, the multimillionaire patriarch of a business family that enjoyed close links with senior officials in the Moi regime as well. No wonder Kamani is involved in the The supply of Mahindra Jeeps scandal as well as the Deal to Build a CID Forensic Laboratory.

Suddenly, on 14 May 2004, Anglo Leasing and Finance Ltd refunded the Kenyan government 95 million Kenyan shillings from a Swiss bank for the project above. The ‘refund’ issued by Anglo Leasing was as a blessing to some government officials. It was the leverage they needed to try to stop investigations into the scandal.

Another scandal involved the construction of Nexus, a secret military communication centre in Karen. A total sum of Sh2.6 billion was spent towards the construction of the complex. Three years after the project had been commisioned, the military personnel had not moved into the centre.

A phantom company, Nedermar BV Technologies, based in Netherlands, implemented the secret project situated along Karen South Road. This company, Nedermar is linked to businessman Anura Pereira, the same person involved in the Euromarine Navy Ship Deal. However, Pereira denied being involved in this deal. The tendering process for the secret military project was circumvented at DoD’s Departmental Tender Committee. The project was funded through the Ministry of Transport and Communications.

The inistial purpose for the Nexus secret millitary site was to serve as an ammunition dumpsite before it was turned into a military communication and operations centre. Construction continued without any site visits by either the DoD staff or Ministry of Public Works officials. The Nexus project was implemented during the tenure of General Joseph Kibwana.

The Prisons department lost $3 million, aproximately three hundred and two million Kenyan shillings, after contracting Hallmark International, a company associated with Deepak Kamani of Kamsons Motors, for the supply of 30 boilers. Kamsons Motors is the same company mentioned in the supply of Mahindra Jeeps scandal. Only half of the boilers were delivered – from India and not the United States as had been agreed.

The Deal to Build a CID Forensic Laboratory was awarded to the Kamanis, the same ones involved in the The supply of Mahindra Jeeps Scandal as well as the The Anglo Leasing Scandal, On 7 June 2004 an amount of $4.7 million was wired back as a refund for the money paid for the Criminal Investigations Department forensic laboratory. Another 5.2 million Euros was paid back for the E-cop project, which involved computerisation of the police force and the installation of spy cameras in Nairobi by Infotalent Systems Private Limited. I understand the Kenyan CID Forensic Laboratory is under construction as at now.

Chamanlal Kamani One behind the Anglo Leasing Scandal had been given a contract to supply Mahindra Jeeps under the company name Kamsons Motors. Kamsons Motors was also involved in the Supply of boilers to Prisons department scandal. Kampsons was to supply Mahindra Jeeps to the Police Department in the mid 1990s. The tender was estimated to be close to Sh1 million for every Jeep Supplied. At that time however, the showrooms would have charged customers a sixth of the price in the tender. Moreover, the vehicles were being bought for a government department and for this fact, they were imported duty-free. It is estimated that more than 1,000 units were supplied over a period of several years but only a few of them are in service today. Kamani was also involved in the Deal to Build a CID Forensic Laboratory

The Euromarine Navy Ship Deal was worth A Sh4.1 billion. A Navy project was given to Euromarine, a company associated with Anura Pereira, the same person linked to the Anglo-Leasing scandal as well as the Nexus Secret Military Communication centre.

The argument was that the tendering process that had awarded the Navy Ship deal to Euromarine company was irregular. The tender was worth Sh4.1 billion. Military analysts claimed that a similar vessel could have been built for aproximately Sh1.8 billion. The tender was thus double.

Back in 2003, the military was split over plans to buy new Czech fighter jets. The controvery arose because the plan to buy the jet fighters would have cost the taxpayers Sh12.3 billion. The big question is, did the Millitary really need to spend that much for the Jet fighter, and were they really needed at the time?

This was a Sh360 million helicopter servicing contract given to a South African firm. The controversy arose when military officers argued that the contract was too extravagantly overpriced and that the helicopters could be serviced locally. Despite this, Kenya Air Force (KAF) went ahead to spend Sh108 million as a down payment for servicing the Puma helicopters, whose tail number is logged as 418 at Denel Aviation, a South African firm.

The Goldenberg scandal was the longest-running scandal in Kenya back in the days.  In the Goldenberg scandal the Kenyan government was found to have subsidised exports of gold way beyond standard arrangements in the 1990s, through a company by the name Goldenberg International which received 35% more than the Kenyan foreign currency earnings. Although it notionally appears that the scheme was intended to earn hard currency for the country, it is estimated to have cost Kenya the equivalent of more than 10% of the country’s annual GDP, and it is possible that no or minimal amounts of gold were actually exported.

The chief architect behind the scheme was a relative of the Kenyan businessman Kamlesh Pattni pictured above. However, it was Pattni who established Goldenberg International the company behind the scheme. Almost all the politicians in the Moi Regime and a big percentage of the Kibaki’s Reign were accused. Major Banks in Kenya were mentioned in this scandal including National Bank of Kenya, Post Bank, Delphis Bank and Trans National Bank. The judicial system also appeared to have been deeply involved, with 23 of Kenya’s senior judges resigning after evidence indicated their involvement.