Archive for September 7th, 2007

Whats Next for the “Moi Empire” After the Kroll Report?

Posted on 7 September 2007. Filed under: Corruption, Politics |

Kroll Report Analysis Part VI – Kenyans must brace to ‘write-off’ the mega theft

With the Moi family having been heavily implicated in the still unofficial Kroll report, its seems unlikely that any of the recommendations will be implemented by the government and all signs are already confirming this.

President Kibaki has not publicly commented on this issue but it will be interesting to hear what his opinion is on the whole matter – that touches directly and adversely on his Special Envoy to Southern Sudan. President Moi on the other hand has not commented either but his empire’s influence in both the political and economic spheres in Kenya is not something any regime in East and Central Africa can bulldoze without second thoughts.

Moi remains in good books with both the Kenyatta family and Kibaki regime, two of the most important contacts anyone can have in Kenya today. The dismissal of the report by Government spokesman and the the loud silence from the Official Leader of Opposition in Kenya, Uhuru Kenyatta, himself mentioned in the Kroll Report, confirms this thinking. The normally nonchalant cabinet minister Martha Karua, whose portfolio is directly linked to the report has not spoken either. Infact anyone who matters, in government and opposition have not said anything despite the fact that the amount involved is estimated at US$2billion!

That the government spokesman has called the Kroll report ‘hearsay, inaccurate and incomplete’ can be interpreted to mean that a decision not to pursue this matter further was made even before Attorney General, Amos Wako, had seen the report. Indeed, Wako – supposedly Chief Government Legal Advisor, confirmed to the media last weekend that he has never seen the report before but has read about it in the media “like every other Kenyan”. Besides, the British governments’ attempts to assist the Government of Kenya recover some of the loot were reportedly repulsed in 2004 and is now subject of a diplomatic spat between the two countries. Diplomatic critics, like the influential European Union and the US Embassy, have maintained a studious silence, probably observing diplomatic protocol.

NTV reported in its prime bulletin last night that the Kroll Report in public dormain is actually the second report, the first having been delivered to the then Justice and Constitutional Affairs Minister, Kiraitu Murungi in December 2003 and it is suspected a decision not to pursue Kroll recommendation was reached then. In retrospect, most of the those individuals mentioned adversely have moved on and are either dead, or living outside Kenya or a firmly entrenched with the current regime, and any attempt to haul them in court will earn the government embarrassment it does not need a few months, possibly weeks, before the general elections.

There is a lot of speculation in the country as to whom and where the report could have leaked from. Observers are pointing fingers at Sheria House, with a British newspaper being the first to have published parts of the Kroll report. One can be sure that Kenya’s intelligence apparatus is working overtime to trace its origins and cursing themselves for not having smelt it before it exploded. Nicholas Biwott has dismissed the report terming himself a honest and hardworking businessman, while Gideon Moi has threated to sue for defamation, but this blog wonders to whom will his lawyers serve court summon papers?

At the continental level, the idea of honouring and treating with respect leaders who leave power peacefully has gained momentum and it remains to be seen whether the Kroll report will help separate the Moi name from the likes of Mobutu, Bokassa or Abacha.

The Kroll report also seriously jeopardizes Moi’s chances of attracting any nominations to global awards, including the Mo Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership, which starts in November 2007, and that which seeks to honour former African leaders who have demonstrated excellence in leadership. The prize consists of $5m (Sh350m) spread over 10 years and $200,000 (Sh14m) annually for life thereafter. A further $200,000 per year for good causes espoused by the winner may be granted by the Foundation during the first 10 years.If allegations in the Kroll report are authentic, then former President Moi is certain to miss the honour but not the money.

Kroll Report Analysis stories can be found here

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Hitmen in Kenya; Strange Similarities in the Kroll & Artur Brothers Reports

Posted on 7 September 2007. Filed under: Corruption, Insecurity, Politics |

Kroll Report Analysis Part V; Dead men tell no tales, so goes the saying.

Going by the revelations of the PROJECT KTM – Consolidated Report (commonly referred to as Kroll Report) dated 27 April 2004, it is not suprising that a string of high-profile murders in Kenya have remain unsolved – some stretching back as far back as the period after independence. Others, like the Artur Brothers saga, have allegedly been uncovered before they happened. Is there any link between them?

One wonders how Kroll investigators managed to get, in a space of only about one year, various eye witnesses to record statements swearing first hand knowledge regarding the hiring of hitmen while our own Kenya Police Commissioner and Director of CID have since independence been unable to land any suspects to be successfully convicted in a court of law for any of the high profile murders that are well recorded.

It is an open secret that life in Nairobi is no longer comfortable for many prominent families and the Kroll report provides information on just how the success or failure of mega deals can decide whether one stays alive or is killed. Many businessmen and women in Kenya believe they are at risk from hired hit squads in the streets and in the sanctity of their own homes. Some fear even to answer a knock at their own front door while others have never led a normal life for decades. That alone has made private security be one of the sectors with the highest rates of growth in the last two decades. Suburb estates that were extremely popular a few years back like Kahawa, Ngong, Kiserian and Rongai have in recent days become ghost towns with stately homes abandoned because local security is no longer guaranteed. It is said that hitmen send advance notices to their targets to inform them of their mission. Not even the police can help a resident avoid the date with fate, and thugs have been reported to spend up to twelve hours terrorizing families, as they commit murder, rape and other unthinkable crimes.

Chilling revelations about hitmen are plentiful in the explosive Kroll Report. For instance, serious friction is reported to have occured between former President Moi’s long term aide Joshua Kulei and his sons Philip and Gideon Moi on the other hand, resulting to physical threats being issued to Kulei. The report further indicates that Kulei contemplated migrating from Kenya to live in the United Kingdom. In December 2003, Kulei was warned by the DPP (Philip Murgor) that the Moi brothers had a contract out to have him killed.

Kroll Report goes further to reveal that Mohammed Kassam’s widow is said to believe that her husband was poisoned by hitmen hired by Mr. Biwott, two days before he was to appear as a witness at an enquiry investigating Dr. Robert Ouko’s death. The same Mr. Biwott is accused of having warned a Mr. Kassam that he (Biwott) “would not be responsible for what happens to him” after he (Kassam) threatened to foreclose Diners Finance and HZ Construction.

The report further reveals how Muzahim and Philip, once bosom business partners in motor vehicle, drug and counterfeit currency deals, experienced a serious fall out and Philip paid an unnamed assassin to eliminate Muzahim. The would-be assassin confessed to Muzahim and got paid off.

These are stories straight from the Kroll report and not a James Bond movie.

In the public dormain, Kenyans will remember the cold blood murder of University lecturer and Bomas Constitutional Conference Delegate Prof. Crispin Mbai – shot dead in front of his own daughter in 2005. Mbai was also the Chairman of the all important Devolution Committee at Bomas and it is not difficult to discern how he could have made enemies with the capacity to hire hitmen. Other unsolved high profile murders from yesteryears include the assassination of cabinet minister Tom Mboya in 1969, Member of Parliament J. M. Kariuki in 1975, and former Foreign minister Robert Ouko in 1990. Both these gentlemen are believed to have been killed because of their political beliefs.

Even high ranking police officers are not safe taken the murder of Mombasa Port CID Boss Hassan Ahmed Abdillahi who was also shot dead by people believed to have been hired by drug barons at the coast.

Other prominent businessmen killed in Kenya in recent years and in mysterious circumstances included a real estate tycoon, Mr Visram Mulji Patel (killed in December 2005), another real estate expert Mr Sammy Kithikii (killed mid-May 2005), 28-year old businessman Timothy Karanja Wainaina (killed last May 2005), Mr Pankaj Shah (killed on February 2005, ) and 33-year-old businessman Abdurahman Sheikh Mohammed Noor (killed on March 2005). Kenya’s leading criminal lawyers, Mr S.K. Ndungi in the 1990s as was a high ranking Military Intelligence Officer, Lt. Col. Augustine Kunyiha.

With the mission of the Artur brother’s to Kenya still unclear, Kenyans have not forgotten that Raila Odinga was the one who first publicly pulled the plug on the Armenian brothers and actually labelled them as “mercenaries”. President Kibaki in June 2006 appointed a three-man team — the Kiruki Commission of Inquiry — headed by former Police Commissioner, Mr Shedrach Kiruki, to inquire into the activities of the Armenian Brothers. The commission was mandated to inquire into the breach of security at the airport and to look into how the Arturs came to possess firearms and 100 rounds of ammunition that the police retrieved at their Nairobi home. Although its recommendations released in August 2006 were never made public, it was leaked to various media in Kenya which published reports that bear very strange and frightening similarities to the Kroll Report!

The committee is said to have ; uncovered a pattern of fraud and corruption in the customs, immigration and police services, and also within the Kenyan political elite, and restated the findings of an Interpol investigation which concludes that it is impossible to verify the true identities of inter alia Artur Sargasyan and Artur Magaryan, because they are in possession of travel documents reported stolen in Russia and Europe; further their company (Brother Link International Company Limited) registration documents in Kenya appear to be forgeries or at best obtained in contravention of the law.

The committee’s most most explosive recommendation is for the prosecution for tax evasion and corporate fraud of Winnie Wangui Mwai. It also recommends her immediate dismissal from her civil service job in the Ministry of Water. The committee also accused the Armenians of drug smuggling and money laundering and calls for their immediate arrest should they return to Kenya. Specifically, it states that it believes that Sargasyan “was involved in organized crime and drug smuggling and … was seeking an outlet for his illegal business in Kenya.” The Kiruki Commission did not attribute political responsibility for the Kibaki government’s apparent tolerance of the activities of the Armenian brothers. Nor did it report a finding on whether or not it was proper for the Minister for Internal Security to direct the Armenians’ deportation instead of prosecuting them for criminal offences.

In April this year, Hon John Michuki was accused in parliament of hatching a plot to kidnap and possibly assassinate Baringo Central MP, Mr Gideon Moi, using the Arturs brothers. Hon. Ojode, the MP for Ndhiwa had earlier tabled a letter and a CD recording allegedly capturing the minister demanding Kshs. 210million from the Artur brothers as protection fees. It is also in these CD and letter that the assassination plot was discussed. Both the CD and letter were rejected by the speaker of the National Assembly. Their contents have never been made public and no public servant has ever been charged in court in connection to the Artur Brothers saga.

It appears that these are not the last Kenyans will hear about hitmen and high profile murders. Politics and money will continue to decide many a mans fate.

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