Githongo used draft contract in raising Anglo Leasing alarm

Former anti-graft czar John Githongo raised the alarm over the controversial Anglo Leasing contract after he was shown a contract with only one signature that was Tuesday proven in court to be a draft.

Mr Githongo, who was the anti-corruption chief in former President Mwai Kibaki’s office, said he had never seen the final contract between Infotalent Ltd and the government of Kenya.

He said the only contract he saw was a copy given to him by Provincial Administration Permanent Secretary Dave Mwangi in 2004, which had only the signature of Mr Bradley Charles Birkenfield, without those from government representatives.

This was the copy he later passed on to Retired Justice Aaron Ringera, the then director of the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission (KACC).
Mr Githongo was, however, at pains to explain whether he had seen the executed Infotalent Ltd contract.

Upon being shown by lawyers for the defence, Mr Githongo said he saw it for the first time during pre-trial at the Director of Public Prosecution’s office, and the second time in court Tuesday.

He said at the time of conducting investigations into the Anglo-Leasing contract, it was found that Infotalent Ltd, which had been awarded the anglo-leasing E-cops project, was not a registered company in Switzerland, as had initially been reported, which informed his decision that the project was dubious.

Lawyer Ahmednasir Abdullahi, for the accused, however put him to task saying that some of the documents produced by the prosecution reveal that the firm was registered in British Virgin Island on July 1 2003, and that it was therefore logical that its details could only be found in Britain and not Switzerland.

The former ethics chief was testifying in a case where former senior government officials and businessmen have been charged in connection with multi-billion shilling security tenders that the government has termed irregular.

Lawyer Kioko Kilukumi, also for the accused, however said that the advance payment to Infortalent Ltd was returned because the contract had been cancelled.

Mr Kilukumi said the contract Mr Githongo was challenging was valid as the then Attorney- General Amos Wako, had given his advisory opinion on it and the treasury also gave its professional undertaking.