Economy

Githongo tells court he wasn’t privy to signed Anglo Leasing deal

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Mr John Githongo in court on July 3, 2017. PHOTO | PAUL WAWERU | NMG

Former anti-graft czar John Githongo on Monday said he had not seen the executed contract between the government and one of the firms linked to Anglo Leasing-type projects despite raising the alarm on the security deals.

Mr Githongo said he was seeing the executed contract involving Sound Day Corporation for the first time in court on Monday.

Sound Day Corporation signed a contract with the government to supply police security equipment in December 2003.

“The one I saw in 2004 when I was making the inquiry on the controversial contract had only one signature, with the name of a white person,” he told the court Monday.

Mr Githongo added that he could not, therefore, know its terms or particulars.

Mr Githongo, who was the Ethics permanent secretary in then President Mwai Kibaki’s office, however, admitted that Sound Day, which is one of the firms he was investigating, had been supplying equipment to the police since 1993 without any complaints being raised by the police.

The former anti-graft czar said he raised the red flag on the contracts after it emerged that some of the firms in the deal were “dubious”.

READ: Kenya-US arms deal fails the smell test, says John Githongo

He was at pains to explain how he had reached the conclusion that the firms were dubious when he is not a trained investigator.

Defence lawyer Ahmednasir Abdullahi brought the anti-corruption court’s attention to the fact that courts in Sweden and London had established that the firms were duly registered. The Kenyan government had advanced similar arguments before these courts but lost the case.

Lawyer Kilukumi told the court that the Attorney-General at the time, Amos Wako, had given a legal opinion approving the contract.
The hearing resumes Tuesday.