Pay at your own risk, PAC warns

The Public Accounts Committee Wednesday opposed plans by the Treasury to pay Sh1.4 billion ($16.4 million) to one of the firms behind the controversial Anglo Leasing security contracts.

The value of the contracts was still in doubt while individuals behind the firms remained unknown, said PAC chairman Ababu Namwamba.

“It is against the interests of the Kenyan taxpayers for the Treasury to say it wants to pay one of the Anglo Leasing security contracts firms and yet the government has not demonstrated it had resolved the matter in the best interest of the taxpayers,” he said. Mr Namwamba warned that whoever was behind plans to pay the Anglo Leasing security contracts would be held accountable by the taxpayer.

Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich has said the government had negotiated a Sh1.4 billion ($16.4 million) settlement with Mercantile Finance Corporation of Switzerland, paving the way for issuance of the Sh174 billion ($2 billion) Euro Bond “in a matter of months”.

“We have more or less closed the chapter on this Anglo Leasing thing. The only pending issues are criminal investigations that are ongoing,” he said.

In December last year, a London court made a Sh1.5 billion ($18 million) award against the government in favour of Mercantile Finance Corporation. Last month, the Swiss company gave the government an ultimatum to pay up or have its properties abroad attached or auctioned.

Former Ethics and Governance permanent secretary John Githongo said plans to pay for Anglo Leasing security contracts raised questions about the Jubilee Government’s commitment to fight corruption.

“It is easy to be cynical about the quality of the State’s ‘defence’ in this case. The lame and rather pathetic excuse given for impunity is about insult of the intelligence of Kenyans,” he said Wednesday.