Michael Ranneberger was the United States ambassador to Kenya from August 11, 2006 to May, 2011. Photo/File
What you need to know:
Parliament heard that Mr Ranneberger violated the Vienna Convention of 1961, which stipulates that accredited foreign envoys are not supposed to deal directly with government departments.
Mr Ranneberger was instrumental in piling pressure on the government to close Charterhouse Bank, saying the US government suspected that the institution was being used to commit economic crimes.
Details of investigations into the Charterhouse Bank saga and how the US embassy in Nairobi was involved were revealed in confidential documents released in March last year by the whistleblower website, Wikileaks.
A former US ambassador to Kenya, Michael Ranneberger, broke diplomatic protocol when he gave crucial information on the closed Charterhouse Bank to the Kenya Anti Corruption Commission.
Parliament heard that Mr Ranneberger violated the Vienna Convention of 1961, which stipulates that accredited foreign envoys are not supposed to deal directly with government departments. Instead, they are required to channel correspondence through the Foreign Affairs ministry.
“It is true that Ranneberger visited the KACC offices, but after a second look, he should have followed the right procedure. All ambassadors know the procedure,” said Justice and Constitutional Affairs assistant minister William Cheptumo.
Responding to questions from Kilome MP Harun Mwau, Mr Cheptumo said that Mr Ranneberger might have “overstepped” his mandate when he handed over the report to then KACC director Patrick Lumumba on November 24, 2010.
During the visit, Mr Ranneberger told Prof Lumumba that the decision was part of his government’s response to demands that the names of those banned from venturing into the US be disclosed.
“I have given the names to the government and it is the one to decide whether to make it public or not,” he was quoted as saying. Mr Cheptumo could, however, not table any report on the investigations by KACC as demanded by Mr Mwau stating that the Criminal Investigation Department handled investigations into the dossier.
“I have no report to table to the House because KACC didn’t undertake the investigations. The right place to go is the police department,” he said.
Mr Ranneberger was instrumental in piling pressure on the government to close Charterhouse Bank, saying the US government suspected that the institution was being used to commit economic crimes.
Details of investigations into the Charterhouse Bank saga and how the US embassy in Nairobi was involved were revealed in confidential documents released in March last year by the whistleblower website, Wikileaks.
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