Chris Murungaru: President Uhuru Kenyatta's team cleared me of Anglo Leasing

Former EACC PS John Githongo (left) greets former Internal Security Minister Chris Murungaru during the hearing of a case in which Murungaru has sued Githongo for defamation.  [Photo: George Mulala/Standard]

By Wilfred Ayaga

Nairobi, Kenya: A watchdog committee of Parliament chaired by President Uhuru Kenyatta, then as MP, cleared former Internal Security Minister Chris Murungaru of all allegations related to the Anglo Leasing scandal, the High Court was informed Monday.

The former powerful minister told Justice David Onyancha that the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC), which was then chaired by Uhuru as the Leader of Official Opposition, found no evidence of wrongdoing on his part.

“I was investigated by PAC chaired by the current president. The investigations did not make any adverse findings or recommendations against me,” Murungaru told the court.

Dr Murungaru said the PAC findings were made in 2006 at the height of allegations that he and other government officials had conspired to defraud the government of billions of shillings in dubious security contracts.

The former minister has sued former Governance and Ethics Permanent Secretary John Githongo for linking him to the scandal.

Murungaru said that PAC had found no evidence against him even after its members visited Githongo in London to take his evidence regarding the questionable contracts.

At the time, Githongo who was the anti-corruption czar, had fled the county claiming that his life was in danger over a dossier in which he allegedly implicated Murungaru and other senior government officials in corruption.

Mentioned in dossier

Others mentioned in the dossier were former Finance Minister David Mwiraria and his Justice and Constitutional Affairs counterpart Kiraitu Murungi.

Murungaru said PAC investigations had made adverse findings against other people who had appeared before the committee but none against him.

“I personally appeared before PAC, with my lawyer Paul Muite to adduce evidence,” he said.

He told the court that separate investigations by the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission had also cleared him of culpability. He added he was not aware of any other investigation by a government agency that was conducted to unearth the scandal.

Ghost of scandal

Asked about the extent to which he knew of the Anglo Leasing dealings, Murungaru seemed to lay the ghost of the scandal on the doorstep of the former Kanu government and the then Treasury Permanent Secretary Joseph Magari.

“I only participated in Anglo Leasing contracts to the extent that a policy maker can. When the contracts were conceived in 2001, I was not in government,” the former minister said.

Earlier on, Githongo’s defence team claimed that it needed to organise for special equipment to make tapes that allegedly implicate Murungaru in the scandal audible.

Githongo’s lawyer said that his team was yet to acquire the equipment.