Kenya's government on Friday rejected a report that claimed the country's former President Daniel Arap Moi stole a billion dollars during his regime and stashed the money in foreign accounts.

The Nation reports that the government has for the past three years been holding a report on investigations to trace and recover proceeds of corruption siphoned out of the country during the Moi regime. The investigators uncovered fresh information about wealth hidden in bank accounts, company shares and real estate in the US, the UK, South Africa, Australia and tax havens in Europe and offshore havens. UK-based risk consultancy group Kroll said in the report that Moi's shell companies, hidden trusts, frontmen and associates, got at least billion dollars out of the country during his 24-year regime. According to a New Statesman report, this amount could put Moi on a par with Africa's kleptomaniac rulers, notably Zaire's Mobutu Sese Seko and Nigeria's Sani Abacha. But Nairobi rejected the allegations, saying the claims were tailored to sully President Mwai Kibaki, who is seeking a second and final term in the year-end polls. New Statesman reports that the timing of the leak was mischievous in the extreme. In one of the most cynical pacts in Kenyan history, Moi had just given Kibaki his endorsement, indicating he would instruct his Rift Valley supporters to vote for a former enemy – one whose own administration stands accused of breathtaking levels of sleaze. According to The Guardian, the UK Foreign Office launched an attack on the Kenyan Government over its handling of the corruption investigation. In a sharply-worded response to the report on the Kroll inquiry into theft by the Moi regime, the Foreign Office – also speaking for the Treasury – said it was ‘very surprised’ to read the claim by Alfred Mutua, the Nairobi government's spokesperson, that the British Government had been asked for help – but ‘so far they have refused’.
Full report in The Nation
Full New Statesman report
Full report in The Guardian

Key Kenyan government officials appeared to be reading from different scripts over the fate of the Kroll report. The Nation notes that although spokesperson Alfred Mutua had earlier said the government had received the report in 2004, the Attorney-General, Amos Wako, said he had not seen it. And although he confirmed receiving the report, Mutua last week dismissed it as 'incomplete and inaccurate’. He said: 'We did not find that the report was credible. It was based on a lot of hearsay.' But Wako, the government's principal legal adviser, said that on matters of corruption and economic crimes, his job was only to prosecute. 'Investigations are conducted by the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission. I am told that the matter is still under investigations,' he said. Commissioned by the government, the report lists a number of companies and contains detailed information on the extent of looting from public coffers by key figures in the Kanu government. In other developments, Moi’s son has threatened to sue The Guardian, according to a Mail & Guardian Online report.
Full report in The Nation
Full Mail & Guardian Online report

Staying in Kenya, where MPs have voted to award themselves a $22 000 bonus each at the end of their five-year term in December despite a wave of public condemnation. The move has been slammed by lawyers and human rights activists who say it is ‘highly immoral’. They held a protest against the proposal in July. The Bill also legalises huge perks that Ministers have been receiving. According to a BBC News report, MPs had originally wanted a bonus of $98 000 each but the Finance Minister said the country could not afford this. Kenya's 222 MPs already earn more than $10 000 a month in salaries and expenses, much of which is tax-free, in a country where most people live on less than $1 a day. Mwalimu Mate from the anti-corruption group, Mars, said he was considering taking legal action over the issue.
Full BBC News report