Anglo leasing witness taken to task for being hostile

Kenya legal representative in Switzerland Marc Henzilin testifies at an Anglo leashing case. [George Njunge /Standard]

A Swiss lawyer hired to trace the Anglo-Leasing billions was yesterday taken to task for being a hostile witness.

Mark Henzelin (pictured) was hired to draft a mutual legal assistance agreement on behalf of the Government at the height of the Anglo-Leasing investigations, but lawyers representing accused persons in the multi-billion shilling scandal accused him of being dishonest.

Lawyer Ahmednasir Abdullahi had asked Dr Henzelin whether he was aware of a judgement in a related case in which he had represented the State and lost.

The trial court was told that in the case, the Government had raised an issue about the pricing of the contracts but all the arguments submitted were dismissed.

But Henzelin said his brief was to give mutual assistance, not analyse the evidence. He added that he could not confirm if there was criminal culpability in the transactions.

He said he had prepared letters in consultation with the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission and sent them to Kenya.

“Under a cover letter dated May 6, 2008, the eight letters of request for mutual legal assistance were forwarded to me signed on the same day by KACC for onward transmission to the Swiss Federal Office of Justice and Police."

Henzelin was testifying in a case where former permanent secretaries Dave Mwangi and Joseph Magari, former head of debt management David Onyonka, businessmen Deepak Kamani, Rashmi Kamani and Chamanlal Kamani are charged with conspiracy to defraud the State.