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.