Goldenberg ghosts haunt, 24 years later

The ghosts of Kenya's 24-year-old mega scandal, the Goldenberg scam, have refused to go away and often resurface to haunt Kenyans.

Goldenberg still remains arguably the country's biggest scandal, where Kenyans lost Sh5.8 billion in what was found to be the fictitious export of gold, in a scheme that was crafted to appear as if Kenya would earn hard currency.

The scheme, whose chief architect was controversial businessman Kamlesh Pattni under his company Goldenberg International, began in 1991.

Also implicated as having been a director of the company was then Director of Intelligence, the late James Kanyotu.

The scheme went on until until 1993, when it was exposed by whistleblower David Munyakei, who would later die in mysterious circumstances in 2006.

And while two probes, including the Bosire Commission of Inquiry, were instituted to bring to book those behind the mega scam, little has been achieved.

The latest attempt to nail Pattni was thwarted last year after Justice Joseph Mutava, in a widely criticised ruling, barred the State from continuing with the criminal case against Pattni on the grounds that his constitutional rights had been violated since the case had dragged on for too long.