Court orders Githongo to pay Murungaru Sh27m in Anglo-Leasing scam libel

  

Former Anti-Corruption Boss John Githongo at a past function. (File, Standard)

Former anti-corruption Czar in the first Kibaki Administration John Githongo has been ordered to pay former Minister Christopher Murungaru Sh27 million in libel damages related to the Anglo-Leasing affair.

In the Thursday ruling, the High court directed activist Githongo to pay the former minister Sh20 million in general damages, Sh5 million in exemplary damages, and Sh2 million in special damages.

Githongo, a former Cabinet Secretary in charge of ethics, expressed his disappointment in a statement after the judgment was passed and vowed to appeal.

“The matter has drudged through the courts for 13 years and been heard by different judges. It is my plan to appeal this judgment as vigorously as possible. Unfortunately, the court also disallowed witness evidence in my regard and we have filed my intention to appeal on this basis as well,” he said in a statement.

The activist vowed to continue fighting corruption in the Government despite what he termed as distractions engineered by the very ‘thieves’ stealing from Kenyans.

Githongo, who served in the office of former President Mwai Kibaki as Governance and Ethics Permanent Secretary has been very vocal about corruption in Kenya.

In an interview on KTN News’ Point Blank with Tony Gachoka, Githongo recently said the long history of State-sponsored graft had destroyed the country with the last 10 years showing that Kenya has lost about Sh6.6 trillion to corruption.

He said corruption trackers showed the cumulative amount had been lost and there was no end in sight for the cancer of corruption that was devouring the country.

The Anglo Leasing scam saw the country lose an estimated Sh50 billion after security-related contracts were awarded to companies that failed to honour their part of the deals.