NAIROBI: The Anglo leasing investigations have been revived with the possible prosecution of former and current high ranking Government officers who are said to include a senator and retired chief executive officers of parastatals.
This follows a directive from the Director of Public Prosecutions, Keriako Tobiko to charge the said officials.
Charges proffered against the 13 individuals whose names were forwarded for prosecution include conspiracy to commit an economic crime, fraudulent property acquisition, failure to follow procurement laws and abuse of office among other charges.
Parliamentary committees that carried out investigations on the Anglo Leasing scam before had reached the conclusion that the Government was not bound to pay the money.
However, on advice from the Attorney General following litigation in a British court by the faceless people behind Anglo Leasing, the Government, after the Budget and Appropriations Committee and the Finance and Budget Committee had approved payment, paid Sh1.5 billion to Anglo Leasing, ostensibly to allow the country issue the Eurobond last year and access low interest loans from the West.
Anglo Leasing dates back to 1997 when the Government of Kenya sought to replace its passport printing system but it wasn't until 2002 that the scam came into the limelight.
While a French firm had initially been identified to supply the machinery for the updated printing system, the award was instead given to the British firm, Anglo Leasing, for amounts higher than had originally been proposed.
The ghost of Anglo Leasing has therefore hung over Kenya through successive governments without any serious efforts to bring those that authored the theft to book for over 12 years.
The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission and the body it replaced have been dragging their feet over investigations and prosecution, sometimes blaming the Director of Public Prosecutions for the slow pace of the case.
The duration this has taken has convinced the public that the Government is not too keen on solving the matter.
These latest efforts to bring the architects of Anglo Leasing to book give the Government the chance to redeem its image in front of a skeptical public, which views it as lacking the spine to fight big corruption in high places.
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