Swiss hand over Anglo Leasing affair evidence

Attorney-General Githu Muigai on Friday confirmed his office would “receive the evidence any time from now”. Photo/FILE

What you need to know:

  • Decision a major boost for probe into multi-billion-shilling scandal
  • The handover of the documents was in response to requests by Kenya for legal assistance in the case.
  • An August 2010 report says 18 contracts were involved and that in 11 of the cases, the trail led to Switzerland.

Investigations into the Anglo Leasing scandal got a major boost after Switzerland handed over the second and final batch of evidence.

A Swiss lawyer representing Kenya’s interests on Thursday received banking records and other documents.

“The Swiss Federal Office of Justice today handed over banking records and other documents obtained by the Office of the Attorney-General to the Swiss lawyer assisting Kenya in the case,” read a statement from Ms Jeannete Balmer, a spokeswoman in the office.

Attorney-General Githu Muigai on Friday confirmed his office would “receive the evidence any time from now”.

He said the government had requested an English translation of the documents. “We will study them and hand them over to the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission,” he said.

The handover of the documents was in response to requests by Kenya for legal assistance in the case. 

The scandal involved State contracts in which hundreds of millions of dollars were awarded to non-existent firms for goods and services that were never rendered, including the supply of forgery-proof passports, satellite dishes and a police forensic laboratory.

An August 2010 report says 18 contracts were involved and that in 11 of the cases, the trail led to Switzerland.

The German-language newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung estimated that $181 million was taken out of the Kenyan Treasury through six of these cases and placed in Swiss bank accounts.

Switzerland has been conducting proceedings against three people on suspicion of money laundering since April 2009 in connection with the affair, Ms Balmer said.

She said a number of bank accounts in Switzerland had been identified and frozen.

This month former Home Affairs permanent secretary Sylvester Mwaliko was found guilty of abuse of office over the three billion passport contract and was sentenced to a non-custodial sentence.

Mwaliko’s co-accused were acquitted earlier in the year for lack of evidence.