Good People !!

Is Swiss Bank helping their customers to evade taxes ???

If so, is it legal for those holding public offices to deal in Swiss Banking??? Could there be conflict of interests in such situations ?? Is it an acceptable norm in the Global Market Place where International public interests is traded?

Have your say........as, Investigative would suffice.........

Judy Miriga
Diaspora Spokesperson
Executive Director
Confederation Council Foundation for Africa Inc.,
USA http://socioeconomicforum50.blogspot.com

--- On Thu, 5/23/13, Lee Makwiny wrote:

From: Lee Makwiny
Subject: [PK] Sh51.8m #gold shipment vanishes mysteriously from airport
To: "progressive-kenyans"
Date: Thursday, May 23, 2013, 7:34 AM

He he he he.

We know who went to Congo recently. Also, Mohamed Ali tweeted that someone was seen "trying to check' status of his account in the swiss.

Watch this space.

##############

$625,000 Worth Gold Shipment Got Lost At Miami Airport

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-MUreAjFx0

Published on May 17, 2013

A shipment of gold valued at $625,000 vanished in a suspected heist after arriving in Miami on an American Airlines flight, authorities announced Thursday.

A police report says the gold, which arrived in a box, was brought on the flight from Guayaquil, Ecuador to the Miami International Airport early Tuesday, WSVN reports.

The plane's cargo was unloaded by five crew members, but the box containing the gold disappeared after apparently being loaded onto a motorized luggage cart or tug, the report said.

The cart was found in front of a gate of the same terminal were the flight from Ecuador was unloaded, about an hour after workers emptied the cargo hold, but without the box containing the gold.

The police incident report did not say who owned the gold or what its final destination was and an American Airlines security official at the airport declined to comment to Reuters on the case, saying only that it was being investigated by the FBI.

"The FBI is aware of the situation," FBI spokesman Michael Leverock told Reuters in an email.

Miami International serves as a major trans-shipment point for large quantities of gold produced in South America and exported primarily to Switzerland for refining.

The city has seen the trans-shipment of gold rise sharply in recent years as investors have turned to gold and its price has risen.

Gold is Miami's No. 1 import valued at almost $8 billion last year, mostly from Mexico and Colombia, and almost all destined for Switzerland, according to World City, a Miami-based publication that tracks trade data.

Interview: Ndemo defends Ruto's use of a private jet

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6zEVtFozUI

Published on May 19, 2013

Find the latest news at http://www.ntv.co.ke
Follow us on Twitter http://www.twitter.com/ntvkenya
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Information permanent secretary Dr Bitange Ndemo has denied reports that the government had acquired a luxury jet for Deputy President William Ruto and whose payment across the year would cost about Sh100 million. Ndemo terming the reports as false and malicious, denied there was a one year contract with Vista Jet Company, the supplier of the jet saying that the flight was hired on a one off basis at a cost of Sh18. 5 million. Ndemo spoke to NTV's Larry Madowo on the matter,

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2013/05/gold-shipment-vanishes-in-mysterious-miami-airport-heist/

The 'hustler's' jet: Govt. says hiring of Ruto's jet cost Sh18.5 million

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tiNvTz_HnF4

Published on May 19, 2013

The hustler's jet: Fresh revelations on Ruto's luxury jet

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCnurrOCQNQ

Published on May 20, 2013

Find the latest news at http://www.ntv.co.ke
Follow us on Twitter http://www.twitter.com/ntvkenya
Like us on FaceBook http://www.facebook.com/ntvkenya

NTV has obtained documents that confirm more than 25 million shillings was paid out to Vista jet the company that provided luxury jet service to Deputy president William Ruto and his entourage of 15 in the just concluded 4 countries tour. The government through the CInformation Permanent Secretary Dr. Bitange Ndemo denied spending such an amount instead accusing the Nation Newspaper of distorting facts. NTV's Ken Mijungu reports on a round trip that redefines the term hustler a popular slang word that means a struggling person.

Investigative

Gold Shipment Vanishes in Mysterious Miami Airport Heist

Email 3 Smaller Font Text Larger Text|Print

By ABC News

May 16, 2013 7:05pm

JAMES GORDON MEEK reports:

WASHINGTON – A $625,000 gold shipment vanished early Tuesday in a brazen heist at Miami International Airport after it arrived aboard a jet from Ecuador, police said.

As the FBI confirmed it was leading the hunt for the crooks, the pool of suspects narrowed to the few who had authorized access to the bulk cargo area, federal and police officials with knowledge of the case told ABC News on Thursday.

The gold was spread among six boxes unloaded from American Airlines Flight 902, which arrived at 4:42 a.m. Tuesday morning from Guayaquil, Ecuador, according to a Miami-Dade Police Department incident report.

Video surveillance tapes showed the boxes being unloaded from the plane onto a cart, which was then moved to the opposite side of the airliner at 5:15 a.m., where a small vehicle called a “tug” towed it away.

Police reported that despite the video, it was “unknown who drove the property around to the other side of the plane and left the property there,” where the tug then drove the cart off-camera.

The cart was found an hour later — empty.

Those allowed into the restricted bulk cargo area in the airport’s international arrivals section include cargo handlers and U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers, but not federal Transportation Security Administration officers, a senior U.S. official said.

“It was an inbound international flight so there was no TSA interaction at all,” the senior U.S. official said. “CBP and ramp workers would be the only ones that have contact.”

Five “subjects” who worked in the bulk cargo area that morning were interviewed by investigators, but their names were blacked out in the Miami-Dade Police Department’s incident report at the request of the FBI, a police official said.

The CBP is the Department of Homeland Security agency responsible for checking inbound cargo arriving from overseas.

CBP spokesmen told ABC News earlier today they were not aware of the incident and referred all inquiries to the FBI.

Gold Shipment Vanishes in Mysterious Miami Airport Heist

Updated Thursday, May 23rd 2013 at 14:09 GMT +3

A $625,000 (Sh51.8 million) gold shipment vanished early Tuesday in a brazen heist at Miami International Airport after it arrived aboard a jet from Ecuador, police said.

Police reported that despite the video, it was â€œunknown who drove the property around to the other side of the plane and left the property there,â€ where the tug then drove the cart off-camera.

The cart was found an hour later â€” empty.

Those allowed into the restricted bulk cargo area in the airportâ€™s international arrivals section include cargo handlers and U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers, but not federal Transportation Security Administration officers, a senior U.S. official said.

â€œIt was an inbound international flight so there was no TSA interaction at all,â€ the senior U.S. official said. â€œCBP and ramp workers would be the only ones that have contact.â€

Five â€œsubjectsâ€ who worked in the bulk cargo area that morning were interviewed by investigators, but their names were blacked out in the Miami-Dade Police Departmentâ€™s incident report at the request of the FBI, a police official said.

The CBP is the Department of Homeland Security agency responsible for checking inbound cargo arriving from overseas.

CBP spokesmen told ABC News earlier today they were not aware of the incident and referred all inquiries to the FBI.

-Adapted from ABC News

Gold shipment valued at $625,000 vanishes from Miami airport

Published May 17, 2013

FoxNews.com

American Airlines planes taxi past a terminal at Miami International airport in Miami, Florida. (Reuters)

A shipment of gold valued at $625,000 vanished in a suspected heist after arriving in Miami on an American Airlines flight, authorities announced Thursday.

A police report says the gold, which arrived in a box, was brought on the flight from Guayaquil, Ecuador to the Miami International Airport early Tuesday, WSVN reports.

The plane's cargo was unloaded by five crew members, but the box containing the gold disappeared after apparently being loaded onto a motorized luggage cart or tug, the report said.

The cart was found in front of a gate of the same terminal were the flight from Ecuador was unloaded, about an hour after workers emptied the cargo hold, but without the box containing the gold.

The police incident report did not say who owned the gold or what its final destination was and an American Airlines security official at the airport declined to comment to Reuters on the case, saying only that it was being investigated by the FBI.

"The FBI is aware of the situation," FBI spokesman Michael Leverock told Reuters in an email.

Miami International serves as a major trans-shipment point for large quantities of gold produced in South America and exported primarily to Switzerland for refining.

The city has seen the trans-shipment of gold rise sharply in recent years as investors have turned to gold and its price has risen.

Gold is Miami's No. 1 import valued at almost $8 billion last year, mostly from Mexico and Colombia, and almost all destined for Switzerland, according to World City, a Miami-based publication that tracks trade data.

Deputy President WILLIAM RUTO to tour African countries using PRIVATE JET – ICC Shuttle diplomacy

Deputy President William Ruto will from today start an extensive tour around Africa, seeking support to defer the International Criminal Court (ICC) cases facing him.

Ruto, who returned from The Hague on Tuesday morning, will leave today on a private jet for Democratic Republic of Congo, Congo Brazaville, Gabon, Nigeria and Algeria.

According to a source close to Ruto, he will also be discussing trade talks with the respective Governments to make Kenya a leading economic hub in Africa.

“Apart from discussing Government business, he will also raise the ICC issue,” said one of Ruto handlers.

Kenya has already held discussions with all East African leaders and secured promises of support for changes to the ICC system.

Ruto now wants to tour West Africa and Central Africa so that he can convince them to support changes to the ICC system.

In 2011, the then Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka travelled extensively around the world seeking support to defer the ICC cases. In the end, the Security Council declined to support any deferral.

Ruto together with President Uhuru Kenyatta and radio presenter Joshua Sang have been indicted by the ICC court in connection with 2007-08 Post Election Violence and their trials begins later this year.

ICC mole MAKAU MUTUA REVEALS that cracks are emerging between UHURU and RUTO over ICC

Civil rights activist and International Criminal Court (ICC) mole Prof Makau Mutua has sensationally stated that there are emerging differences between President Uhuru Kenyatta and his Deputy William Ruto, over the ICC letter which was written to the United Nations Security Council.

On his twitter account on Friday, Makau who is a Law Professor at Buffalo Law School in US said there is a very high likelihood that Ruto disowned the letter because he was not consulted by President Uhuru when the letter was being written.

Prof Makau Mutua#Either Kenya UN envoy Macharia Kamau is a rogue, or there’s trouble between Uhuru and Ruto over ICC

http://www.kenyan2013.com/2013/05/16/deputy-president-william-ruto-to-tour-african-countries-using-private-jet-icc-shuttle-diplomacy/

Ruto’s office releases Sh18m jet invoices

By OLIVE BURROWS | May 20, 2013

Ruto’s tour took him to Brazaville, Libreville and Abuja. Photo/ DPPS

NAIROBI, Kenya, May 20 – Deputy President William Ruto’s office has released documents to support their assertion that a jet which took him on a tour of four African nations was a one-off hire at a cost of Sh18.5 million and not Sh100 million as reported.

The documents include an invoice from the charter company whose jet the deputy president used on the trip.

The invoice from VistaJet shows the deputy president’s office was billed on May 16, the departure date. It was for a round trip from Nairobi-Brazzaville-Libreville-Abuja-Nairobi.

Ruto’s office says he went to Congo Brazzaville, Gabon and Nigeria. He was to travel to Algeria but went to Ghana instead.

In addition to the invoice, the deputy president’s office also released two quotations from ABM Aviation and LadyLori Kenya which submitted competing charter bids.

The quotations which were also received on May 16 appear to corroborate the government’s assertion that they would have cost the tax payer more – ABM quoted about Sh19,375,698 and LadyLori Sh19,658,269.

The deputy president’s office adds that had a commercial flight been used by Ruto and those who accompanied him, the bill would have come to Sh20,725,799 and the trip would have taken six instead of three days.

“A comparative quotation was provided by a local travel agent indicating that the cost to the four African destinations using regular commercial flights would be Sh20,725,799 (USD 247,767) and would take six days to complete,” a statement from the deputy president’s office reads.

The statement continues to explain that given a choice between a private jet and commercial flights, the jet not only scored higher on account of the cost but security as well.

“The aircraft provided by E-ADC Vista Jet EA Company had comparatively better security requirements and safety features therefore providing the best value at the lowest cost for the trip.”

The deputy president’s office goes on to explain that, “the plane the deputy president used did not have a bed. It did not have a meeting room. It did not have a shower and it did not have a kitchen other than the cabin crew facility to serve.”

Ruto office seeks to calm storm over trip

Deputy President William Ruto’s chartered jet is marketed as one of the finest executive planes in its class.

In Summary

Documents seen by the Nation show the Deputy President was accompanied on the trip to Gabon, Congo, Nigeria and Algeria by 14 people who included MPs Josephine Lesuuda, Alice Ng’ang’a and Yusuf Chanzu.

Deputy President William Ruto Monday battled to clear the air on the hiring of a luxury jet said to cost taxpayers Sh25 million every three months.

A statement from Mr Ruto’s office said quotations were sought from three chartered aircraft service providers.

The statement said E-ADC African Development Corporation, a local partner of VistaJet East Africa, quoted Sh18,564,000 ($221,000) all inclusive, LadyLori Kenya Ltd wanted Sh19,728,744 ($234,866) excluding VAT and fees while ABM Aviation demanded Sh19,213,670 ($231,490) excluding VAT and fees.

“A comparative quotation by a local travel agent indicated that the cost of the trip using commercial flights would be Sh21,060,270 ($247,767) and would take six days,” the statement said. It said the organisers recommended that the service be provided by the lowest bidder, E-ADC.

“The aircraft provided by the company had better security and safety features, providing value at the lowest cost,” the statement added.

Mr Ruto’s office also clarified that the plane did not have a bed, a meeting room, shower or a kitchen other than the cabin crew facility.

Documents seen by the Nation show the Deputy President was accompanied on the trip to Gabon, Congo, Nigeria and Algeria by 14 people who included MPs Josephine Lesuuda, Alice Ng’ang’a and Yusuf Chanzu.

Others were Marianne Lang’att, Richard Lemoshira, Nelson Adeya, Daniel Onyancha, James Mungai, Winston Adeli, Daniel Mutai, Farauk Kibet, John Kemboi, Nicholas Kilisio and Elijah Ronoh.

On Monday, Information PS Bitange Ndemo said the cost of hiring the jet was Sh18.5 million. He said the plane was hired on a one-off basis and the cost was less than the Sh19 million quoted by local firms.

Yesterday, an invoice from the Deputy President’s office indicated that the plane was hired for $221,000 or Sh18.5 million.

However, the Nation has an invoice from VistaJet for $300,000 (Sh25 million). The invoice indicates that the payment was an instalment for the first quarter of the year.

A statement from Africa Development Corporation also said the invoice sent to the office of the Deputy President was for $221,000.

“We are not aware of any other invoice of a higher amount,” the statement said. It denied having a $1.2 million contract with the office of the Deputy President.

http://www.nation.co.ke/News/Ruto-office-seeks-to-calm-storm-over-trip/-/1056/1858232/-/view/printVersion/-/e79s2wz/-/index.html

Kenya: Ruto Begins ICC Shuttle Diplomacy

By Nzau Musau, 16 May 2013

Jailed UBS Employee Gets $104 Million From IRS For Exposing Swiss Bank Account Holders

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 09/11/2012 10:52 -0400

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/jailed-ubs-employee-gets-104-million-irs-exposing-swiss-bank-account-holders

Just in case there wasn't enough excitement and fury directed at Swiss bank account holders, which continue to dominate the presidential election "debate" above such mundane topics as the economy, or, say, reality, here comes the IRS, which as we noted yesterday collected $192 billion less than the government spent in the month of August alone, and have awarded Bradely Birkenfeld, a former UBS employee who in 2008 pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the United States and was sentenced in 2009 to 40 months in prison, but received preferential whistleblower status after a prior arrangement to expose numerous Americans with Swiss bank accounts, has just been awarded $104 million.

From Reuters:

U.S. tax authorities have awarded $104 million to a whistleblower in a major tax fraud case against Swiss bank UBS AG that widened a government crackdown on Americans avoiding taxes in Switzerland, his lawyers said on Tuesday.

Bradley Birkenfeld, freed last month from prison, was not present at the news conference where his attorneys announced the reward made under an Internal Revenue Service whistleblower program that has come in for some criticism in Congress.

Birkenfeld had sought a large payout for his role in a tax-dodging case that resulted in early 2009 in UBS entering into a deferred prosecution agreement and paying $780 million in fines, penalties, interest and restitution.

Some more on the Birkenfeld pro- then anti-tax evasion odyssey:

Banking career

Birkenfeld began working at Credit Suisse in 1996, followed by Barclay's Bank in 1998.

In October 2001, Birkenfeld began working at UBS in Geneva, Switzerland as a private banker. His principal job responsibility was to solicit wealthy Americans to invest in the bank and thus avoid paying U.S. taxes. Although UBS was not permitted to give investment advice in the U.S., the bank instructed Birkenfeld and other similar employees to lie about the purpose of their trips to the U.S. Birkenfeld advised American clients how to avoid IRS scrutiny, including placing cash and jewels in Swiss safe deposit boxes. One of Birkenfeld's wealthiest clients was a California real estate developer, Igor Olenicoff. In 2001 Olenicoff and Birkenfeld met in Geneva, the result of which was a transfer of $200 million to UBS accessible by credit cards supplied by Birkenfeld.

Whistleblowing and arrest

In 2007, Birkenfeld decided to tell the DOJ what he knew about UBS's practices. At the same time, he wanted to take advantage of a new federal whistleblower law that could pay him up to 30% of any tax revenue recouped by the IRS as a result of Birkenfeld's information. Birkenfeld also wanted immunity from prosecution for his part in UBS's transactions. In April 2007, Birkenfeld's counsel sent the DOJ a summary of the Birkenfeld's information. The DOJ responded that it was not part of the IRS's whisteleblower program and that it would not grant Birkenfeld immunity. Nonetheless, Birkenfeld met with the DOJ. When communications between Birkenfeld and the DOJ stalled, Birkenfeld contacted the Securities and Exchange Commission, the IRS, and the U.S. Senate. In April 2008, Birkenfeld's lawyers told the DOJ that he would assist the DOJ in return for immunity. One or two months later, Birkenfeld was arrested. The DOJ's top tax lawyer said, "With regard to whistleblowers: those who seek to be treated as true whistleblowers need to know they must come in early and give complete and truthful disclosures.... Mr. Birkenfeld did not come in and give complete and truthful disclosures. Therefore, he is not entitled to whistleblower status."

Birkenfeld's plea and sentencing

On June 19, 2008, Birkenfeld pleaded guilty to a single count of conspiracy to defraud the United States. On August 21, 2009, although the prosecution recommended 30 months, Birkenfeld was sentenced to 40 months in prison. He began serving his sentence on January 8, 2010. His projected release date is November 29, 2012.

Birkenfield did not appeal the conviction. On April 15, 2010, his attorneys filed a Petition for Commutation of Sentence. As of July 7, 2012, Birkenfeld is still in prison in Pennsylvania

And now, he is $104 million richer.

Implication: Uncle Sam wants you, dear concerned citizen, to expose all other such evil Swiss bank account holders (electoral campaign implications here being painfully obvious). You will be richly rewarded. But watch your back, dear concerned citizen, if you ever succeed in escaping into the rarefied air of having 2 nickels to rub together, and decide to save them not on US soil, for some inexplicable reason, but, say, Zurich or Geneva.

Related News:

Is Swiss Bank Legal................??????????

2012 Romney Releases Tax Returns, Had Tons of Money in a Swiss Bank Account

Posted by Paul Constant on Mon, Jan 23, 2012 at 11:39 PM

It begins with 550 pages worth of tax documents:

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney released tax records on Tuesday indicating he will pay $6.2 million in taxes on a total of $42.5 million in income over the years 2010 and 2011...he and his wife, Ann, paid an effective tax rate of 13.9 percent in 2010. They expect to pay a 15.4 percent rate when they file their returns for 2011...Romney's campaign officials stressed that his tax rate is based mostly on income from investments that are held in a blind trust. Romney's holdings include an undisclosed amount in funds based in the Grand Cayman Islands and other overseas entities.

Romney advisers stressed that the holdings in the Caymans - along with those in a Swiss bank account that was closed in 2010 after an investment adviser decided it could be politically embarrassing to Romney - were reported on tax returns and were not vehicles to avoid taxes....The documents showed he and his wife contributed $7 million in charity over the two years, much of it going to his Mormon church.

So many questions. How many offshore tax havens has Mitt Romney dumped his money into in his life? How much of Romney's Mormon church money went to the fight against Prop 8? How much political pressure will it take for Romney to release more returns? How much of his investments are devoted to job creation? How much of it is tied up in European interests? According to the Washington Post, these forms don't include Romney's net worth, the quarter-of-a-billion-dollars figure that gets bandied about. Where is that money? Will we ever understand all the nooks and crannies of Mitt Romney's tremendous fortune?

http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/01/23/romney-releases-tax-returns-had-tons-of-money-in-a-swiss-bank-account

============================================

http://kenyanpolitician.wordpress.com/2011/06/14/i-will-die-rich/

THE KENYATTA WEALTH – MIND BOGGLING, an article published in “Expression Today” (http://www.kenyanews.com/), prior to the 2002 general election

The land owned by the Kenyatta family includes Taita Taveta farm (74,000 acres), Kahawa Sukari farm (29,000 acres), Gatundu farm, Thika farm, Brookside farm, Muthaita farm, Green Lee Estate, Njagu farm in Juja, Kasarani farm (9,000 acres), Nakuru farm in Rongai near Moi’s home, a quarry in Dandora, Naivasha Ranch and several farms in Nairobi. Government sources say that KPLC is currently under pressure to buy the family’s Karen farm at Ksh. 350 million to add to Uhuru’s campaign kitty. The combined acreage of all the land owned by the Kenyatta family is equal to Nyanza province, sources at the Lands Ministry say.

==============================================

The prospect of Uhuru Kenyatta succeeding Daniel arap Moi as president of Kenya remains unbearable for many. But despite widespread disbelief and fury, President Moi has pressed on with Project Uhuru in characteristic zeal and defiance of public opinion. The raw determination by Moi and his minders to see the younger Kenyatta occupy State House has ignited emotive questions about the real intentions of the cartel behind the project. Public scepticism is based on Mr Kenyatta’s rather obscure past and brief CV in public service.

The legacy of his late father, as well as the suspect motive of his proposers have combined to work against Uhuru’s bid for the presidency. Because he is unknown, it has been difficult for his critics to fight him politically without appearing to be fighting President Moi, although it is for the same reason that they have dismissed him off-hand. The failings of his father, Jomo Kenyatta, and the phenomenon of anti Kikuyuism that his regime fomented, have blossomed once again into a thick cloud of ethnicity that envelopes the country on the eve of Moi’s exit. Uhuru’s forced candidacy is likely to hurt more than heal the fragile nation that Moi will bequeath to his successor. Analysts wracking their brains to understand Moi see an ulterior motive in his choice of Uhuru as successor over, for example, George Saitoti, Raila Odinga, Katana Ngala, Musalia Mudavadi or Kalonzo Musyoka.

When he attended the Queen of England’s Golden Jubilee celebrations in June this year (i.e. June 2002), it was not immediately apparent to keen observers that he could have received a direct personal invitation from the royal family. It was assumed that he was merely representing President Moi. But it has emerged from high-placed sources that, in fact, Uhuru could have been invited directly by the British royalty in anticipation of his expected ascendance to the Kenyan throne. The British Royalty and government, which have deep connections with the Kenya government, was therefore acting with Moi’s nod.

Still, this could have passed as a minor event were it not that Britain, the former colonial power is increasingly playing an influential role behind the curtains in Kenya’s transition politics. A source at the British High Commission in Nairobi, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that even before President Moi made public his plans, the matter had been the subject of discussion at high levels of the British government. Britain is Kenya government’s most trusted foreign ally. It has substantive secret economic, military and political (diplomatic) interests that it seeks to protect from unfriendly political forces. The experience with Zimbabwe, where President Robert Mugabe has been repossessing huge tracts of land owned by White farmers, has sent shivers of potential repercussions in other former British colonies in Africa where land continues to be a thorny issue.

Western donor countries are wary of any developments that will undermine a peaceful transition in Kenya, one of the few countries in the region that has avoided the pitfalls of open civil strife. Moi’s choice of Uhuru would appear to have either been endorsed by the foreign interests, or they are willing to kowtow to Moi’s wily schemes to facilitate his exit from the scene. At a public rally in July President Moi found it necessary to reiterate that he would stick by his pledge to British premier Tony Blair and U.S. President George Bush to quit. But the question, of course, still remains, why Uhuru? The objective of self-preservation strongly advanced by various analysts is driving Moi’s management of the transition. The transition arithmetic revolves around the desire of the ruling elite to protect their fabulous property and conceal the retinue of irregular deals by both the Kenyatta and Moi regimes. Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa’s handling of his predecessor, Fredrick Chiluba, has fired the resolve of the Kenyan leadership to tighten any loose ends. While Kenyatta was accused of encouraging an acquisitive spirit that laid the foundation of the run-away corruption in the country, Moi has been accused of running the nation aground through reckless nepotism and accumulation of property by a few to the detriment of the country.

While Kenyatta will be remembered for his contribution in liberating the nation from the colonial yoke, it is claimed in the Economics of the World edited by Nita Wattas, when Kenya became independent it acquired new problems: tribalism, nepotism, greed, bribery and corruption. Opportunities were offered and eagerly seized by a few individuals who were concerned only with accumulating as much wealth as possible. With recent Transparency International statistics showing that corruption is festering, many Kenyans are yearning for a clean break with the ignominious past. Uhuru Kenyatta, they reckon, is a creation of Moi and the clique around him to perpetuate the plunder and the legacy of British control. Both Moi and Kenyatta were products of conservative English grooming entrusted with the protection of British interests.

While those interests may be preserved in furtherance of diplomacy, the land question will require radical solutions from the next president. Land featured prominently in the Constitution of Kenya Review Commission hearings and will not be cured by palliatives such as the slow-punctured Njonjo-led Land Commission. Both the Moi and Kenyatta regimes have used land as a political incentive for loyalty. The ruling class accumulated huge tracts of land initially owned by White settlers but taken over by the State for resettlement of the squatters. The British government gave £ 50 million to a land transfer scheme from settlers to African squatters, but Kenyatta used the money to buy land from settlers and either dish it out to his closest cronies or apportion to himself. That caused a rift between Kenyatta and the late J.M Kariuki who was later assassinated. According to a Kenyan legislator who knows the Kenyatta family well, the land on which Kenyatta and Jomo Kenyatta Universities are built initially belonged to Basil Criticos. The government bought the land from him under the above scheme, but transferred it to Kenyatta on the same day Criticos transferred it to the government in 1972. It was through such fraudulent processes that Kenyatta family and close associates acquired much of the prime land in the country. The land owned by the Kenyatta family includes Taita Taveta farm (74, 000 acres), Kahawa Sukari farm (29, 000 acres), Gatundu farm, Thika farm, Brookside farm, Muthaita farm, Green Lee Estate, Njagu farm in Juja, Kasarani farm (9, 000 acres), Nakuru farm in Rongai near Moi’s home, a quarry in Dandora, Naivasha Ranch and several farms in Nairobi. Government sources say that KPLC is currently under pressure to buy the family’s Karen farm at Ksh. 350 million to add to Uhuru’s campaign kitty. The combined acreage of all the land owned by the Kenyatta family is equal to Nyanza province, sources at the Lands Ministry say.

Close associates of Kenyatta such as Mbiyu Koinange, Kihika Kimani, Isaiah Mathenge, Eliud Mahihu, Jackson Angaine, Paul Ngei, Daniel Arap Moi, Njoroge Mungai, Charles Njonjo, Mwai Kibaki, Njenga Karume among other power brokers of the time, were encouraged to acquire, and did acquire, as much land. The Moi government has more or less followed similar policies. The political clique around Moi, for example, is known to own huge chunks of land round the country, much of which is lying fallow while the production that it is meant for has ceased. In the North Eastern Province, for example, the current crop of politicians in government owns chunks of land that, according to official sources, they do not even know the location. The land is used for collateral mortgage for bank loans. Having acquired land in this manner, the Kenyatta government lacked the moral authority to effect any fundamental land changes.

The white settler community had trust and confidence in him. Jeremy Murray Brown writes in his book, Kenyatta, that the white community was happy when Kenyatta showed that he was not going to push hard for land transfer and, instead, acquired huge chunks of land for himself and his cronies. It was for the same reason that the minority but influential Britons in Kenya impressed upon their home government to support Moi’s ascendancy to power. Above all else, Moi was seen as a moderate who espoused Western capitalism that glorified wealth accumulation. Moi had been assimilated into the British system early when they plucked him from his teaching career to make him a representative in the colonial Legislative Council and he was a major plank of the colonial administration in the suppression of the struggle for independence. Through the then powerful Attorney General, Charles Njonjo, and cabinet minister, Mwai Kibaki, Britain covertly and overtly supported Moi’s ascendance to power while Moi gladly embraced them when he eventually took to the throne. London remains the Kenya government’s overseas capital. This background is crucial for understanding the undercurrents of the transition. It is not a coincidence that Njonjo is today the Chairman of the Land Review Commission formed by President Moi.

He is also one of the prominent figures behind the Uhuru-for-President campaign. The British government has since the eruption of the land problem in Zimbabwe been actively sponsoring civic groups to advocate for peaceful resolution of the Kenyan land problem. Uhuru Kenyatta is an acceptable candidate because he would not undermine the status quo without undermining himself. He is anointed by both his economic class and history. Beside the land question, it is the economic upper class in the country that is determining the course of the transition politics. The country’s tiny economic – and largely political – elite owes its mostly irregularly acquired fortune to proximity to power during the Kenyatta and Moi regimes and it is determined to frustrate any change in leadership that might introduce radical changes in governance.

Hence, while Raila, for example, may have the support of many ordinary citizens because of his populist agenda, he does not enjoy favour among the influential economic elite and Moi’s close allies. Raila’s earlier socialist ideological leaning is still considered by the capitalist economic elite and Western countries as his undoing. Kibaki is viewed as the more acceptable compromise by some Western countries and lending agencies like IMF and the World Bank. While these countries and agencies purport to be disgusted by corruption, they have not been forceful where it matters most. Hence although all indications are that Moi succession plan is aimed at perpetuating the corruption that his government has presided over (his government has been fighting to stave off pressure to prosecute those implicated in corruption) the western agencies will not apply their influence in the interest of change.

The bill on prevention of corruption has failed to sail through parliament due to the vested interest of influential government officials trying to obtain amnesty. The prospect of a less “clean” president is viewed as a risk lest he unleash anti-corruption dogs. Given Uhuru’s inexperience in the management of public affairs (Moi has stated that he picked on Uhuru because he can be “guided”) he would be vulnerable to manipulation. Indeed, significant opposition to Uhuru is purely because he represents a bid by Moi to extend his rule by proxy. Moi would rather have a less glamorous successor than one who would outshine his legacy. It is against this background that Biwott’s resolve “to do everything in his power to make sure that Moi’s choice of President wins,” should be understood. The statement implies that the forces behind Project Uhuru will pull all stops to succeed themselves, and sets the stage for a bruising political duel. Will they succeed?

Mention of Uhuru Kenyatta evokes the 15-year political reign of his father, Jomo Kenyatta, but hardly the fabulous fortune that the first president of Kenya bequeathed to his family. The commercial interests of the Kenyatta family are spread literally over every sector of the national economy in a way that is rivalled only by the empire of its successor the Moi family. Indeed, the prospect of the two families pooling their resources to direct them to a common cause can be enervating to opponents. It is estimated that the two families and their associates control about one fifth of the national wealth. If politics is all about money, which in Kenya it is, then Uhuru is surely on the way to becoming Kenya’s third president.

Inside sources say Uhuru’s campaign budget is estimated at Ksh.10 billion, (Sh. 2 billion earmarked for mobilisation for the Kanu nominations and Sh. 8 billion for campaign proper). The Uhuru campaign targets to raise another Sh.5 billion from local and international well-wishers, which should push his campaign kitty to a whopping Sh.15 billion. For comparison purposes, Kanu’s re-election campaign in the infamous 1992 elections cost an estimated 8 billion in paper money which drove the economy under. According to informed sources, the Uhuru project has already received substantial pledges from Central Province tycoons.

And although Moi has yet to invest his personal resources on the project, the Uhuru project has unlimited access to State resources and machinery with the intelligence , security services and the provincial administration already being deployed to the project.. Well- placed sources confided in “Expression Today” that the Kenyatta family withdrew Sh.2 billion from a Swiss Bank in mid-August that was sunk into the nomination process which for all intents and purposes were a mere formality. It is from this campaign fund that Shs 2.5 million was withdrawn for use in the organisation of the Mungiki demonstrations in Nairobi that raised eyebrows about apparent government complicity in the procession of an illegal organisation. Despite police denials, confidential police sources told “Expression Today” that the Mungiki demonstration was organised and co-ordinated by the Special Branch, the department of the police force that is supposed to have been disbanded two years ago and replaced by the National Security Intelligence Service.

The highly liquid campaign has been spewing money all over the place. Another Sh. 2.5 million was paid to Nakuru councillors to declare support for the Uhuru Project while Ksh.50 million was disbursed to North Eastern Province MPs for similar purposes. Before the North Eastern MPs announced their support for Uhuru in Nairobi in early August, they had met President Moi at his Harambee House office after which they held talks with Uhuru Kenyatta moments before they made the public announcement. Impeccable sources say that the Pastoralists Parliamentary Group also received monetary emoluments to embark on a spirited campaign for Mr. Kenyatta within their communities.

Indeed Moi has indirectly handed over control of some of the State organs to the pro-Uhuru lobby. For example Uhuru is already receiving direct daily briefings from the security intelligence, while his huge security detail has been seconded from the State. This would seem to imply that Moi is already allowing Uhuru to discharge some of his duties as though Uhuru’s ascendancy to the throne is a fait accompli. Father’s Man Uhuru’s political and economic influence stems from being the son of Jomo Kenyatta, which has been given greater impetus by the support he has received from President Moi, whose influence stems from his long reign, economic clout and incumbency. The regrouping clique of the Moi and Kenyatta associates who control the nation politically and economically also fronts Uhuru’s campaign.

The team from President Moi’s Rift Valley behind the Project Uhuru consists of Moi’s favourite son, Gideon, Hosea Kiplagat, the chairman of the Co-operative Bank and Moi’s nephew and aide, newly appointed Home Affairs minister William Ruto, cantankerous Office of the President minister Julius Sunkuli, State House Comptroller John Lokorio and Trade and Industry Minister, Nicholas Biwott. Biwott has been President Moi’s confidante for three decades and was initially reluctant to support the project but has assumed the role of the most influential man behind the project. These prime movers of the project are a recurrent feature of most economic and political activities of the Moi regime.

Politicians and businessmen from Central Province who owe their economic and political success to the Kenyatta era are also championing Project Uhuru. The key players in this group are former Attorney General Charles Njonjo, former foreign affairs minister and Kenyatta’s doctor, Njoroge Mungai; former Gema chairman and Democratic Party patron Njenga Karume, and shadowy former minister Arthur Magugu who has become a regular visitor to State House. Tycoon Stanley Githunguri, Uhuru’s uncle George Muhoho and his mother, Mama Ngina Kenyatta, are said to be generating the finances for the campaign. It is remembered that Njonjo played a key role in the Kenyatta succession, ensuring that Moi succeeded Kenyatta.

After a long period in the cold, Moi recalled Njonjo back to political limelight by appointing him to symbolic positions from where he has been crafting the transition. The Kenyatta family shares several business interests with several of these personalities. For example, according to well-placed sources, the family has had substantial interests in the transport sector that it is slowly ceding to Njenga Karume, the former DP patron whose recent public pronouncement of his support for Uhuru was viewed as long overdue. But the family still retains much of its interests in the shipping industry, where the Moi family controls substantial business.

But the Kenyatta family has its tentacles in virtually all sectors of the economy. They include Brookside Dairy where Uhuru has been a Managing Director until recently when his younger brother, Muhoho Kenyatta, took over. They also have substantial interests in the hotel industry (Heritage Hotels chain -Voyager and Silver Beach hotels in Mombasa as well as Blue Post Hotel in Thika.) The family also owns the countrywide timber firm, Timsales. The family has a major stakes in Commercial Bank of Africa, Prestige Hotels in Taveta, Hilton Hotel and real estate, including residential houses near Nairobi State House.

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http://kenyastockholm.com/2011/11/21/challenging-uhuru-kenyatta-as-richest-person-in-kenya/

Challenging Uhuru Kenyatta as “Richest Person in Kenya”

Forbes classification criteria questioned; Uhuru’s wealth is stolen wealth

Uhuru Kenyatta is a beneficiary of stolen wealth from the people of Kenya and should not be on Fotbes list

Forbes Magazine recently published a list of Africa’s 40 richest persons with Uhuru Kenyatta ranked 26th and number one richest person in Kenya. His net worth is an estimated $500 million, which translates to almost 50 billion Kenyan Shillings.

This is how Forbes described his wealth: “Kenya’s Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta is the son of Kenya’s first president, Jomo Kenyatta, and heir to some of the largest land holdings in Kenya. He owns at least 500,000 acres of prime land spread across the country. The land was acquired by his father in the 1960s and 1970s when the British colonial government and the World Bank funded a settlement transfer fund scheme that enabled government officials and wealthy Kenyans to acquire land from the British at very low prices. Uhuru and his family also own Brookside Dairies, Kenya’s largest dairy company, as well as stakes in popular television station K24 and a commercial bank in Nairobi, among other interests.”

In a WikiLeaks cable dated June 26th 2009, former US ambassador to Kenya Michael Ranneberger described Uhuru’s wealth this way: “Although his wealth is the inheritance from his father’s corruption, the Kenyatta family still holds a special status”. Yet another description from veteran Kenyan journalist and lecturer Joe Kadhi on his blog ‘Msemakweli’ goes: “Among the haves, Uhuru represents the pinnacle of cornucopia. He has wealth he hardly worked for. Wealth that was acquired by his father through the use of despotic powers. All this, when children of true freedom fighters are languishing in indescribable poverty, caused by the exploitation by the very people who opposed the fight for independence.”

Did Forbes investigate the origins of Uhuru Kenyatta’s wealth? According to the magazine, it does not include political leaders on its list of the richest because it is not easy to calculate how they have generated their wealth. Ironically, Uhuru is a Member of Parliament for Gatundu South, Leader of KANU Party and Deputy Prime Minister. Information on its website notes that: “Forbes has long separated rulers and dictators from our annual rankings of the World’s Billionaires, distinguishing between personal, entrepreneurial wealth and wealth derived largely from positions of power, where lines often blur between what is owned by the country and what is owned by the individual.” How many generations does it take to “clean” allegedly ill-begotten wealth?

Since Uhuru is now on the Forbes list, Moi’s son Gideon should be considered at a certain point because his father was also president, yet gathered wealth unscrupulously as noted in the Kroll Report commissioned by president Kibaki in 2003 and submitted in 2004. It is alleged that Moi and his relatives “siphoned off more than £1bn+ of government money.” Gideon Moi was then worth £550m.

Kenyatta: The biggest land grabber in Kenyan history
The naming of Uhuru as Kenya’s richest man generated mixed reactions from Kenyans in the social media. Many felt that his father Jomo Kenyatta, used his position as president to grab land and accumulate enormous wealth. There are documents indicating that Jomo Kenyatta acquired land through resettlement schemes organized by the then British government and the World Bank. Uhuru Kenyatta has mentioned in the past that his wealth belongs to the “Kenyatta family”. In November 2010, the online business magazine “Africa Investor” wrote that Uhuru had estimated his family’s wealth at $10 billion.

Journalist John Kamau reported in 2009 that by September 1963, Jomo Kenyatta had consented to the transfer of Kikuyus from the transit farm Bahati in Rift Valley, to the tsetse fly-infested Mpanda Settlement Scheme in Tanzania. This was basically because the Kenyatta family and other African elite, had taken over most of the farms formerly owned by Europeans who had decided to sell. The ex-Mau Mau fighters who returned to reclaim their land found nothing and were pushed by Kenyatta to Rift Valley. It was only after many protests by Kikuyus that the Mpanda transfer was abandoned.

In 2009, a Kenyan-run blog Kumekucha, wrote that Pio Gama Pinto (who was an appointed politician in the House of Representatives in 1964), discovered that “Kenyatta had allocated himself a total of 50 farms in Central province and Rift valley. Some of the farms had poor Kikuyu squatters who were to be evicted. Others were farms that had been owned by whites and sold back to the Kenyan government. Pinto was incensed by this and despite making overtures to Kenyatta not to go ahead with the evil he was doing, Kenyatta adamantly stuck to his guns. Pinto decided to move a vote of no confidence in Kenyatta. Kenyatta confronted him within the precincts of parliament and challenged him over the no confidence vote. When Pinto refused to back down Kenyatta called him a bastard to which Pinto immediately responded by telling Kenyatta in front of witnesses and other cabinet ministers that he (Kenyatta) was also a bastard. A stunned friend pulled Pinto aside and asked him how he could call Kenyatta a bastard to which Pinto retorted, ‘he called me one first’. It was shortly after this incident that the decision was made to kill Pinto.”

In June 2000, journalist John Kamau published an article named “Kenyatta in trouble 22 years after his death”. He cited people who questioned how he had acquired so much wealth in only 15 years as president, while others called him murderer, tribalist and land grabber. “Kenyatta’s family must account for its wealth,” retorts Wanyiri Kihoro, the opposition MP from the Democratic Party of Kenya. He hails from the same populous Kikuyu tribe as Kenyatta. But he is unfazed by tribal loyalties. “We all know that Kenyatta was a land-grabber”, Kihoro adds somewhat irreverently. Luke Obok, the Chairman of the Kenya Pipeline Company: “Kenyatta’s regime was worse [than Moi's]. Nobody was allowed to question the ills of his government. It is sad that under him, many Luos [from the other big tribe in the country] who were in top positions were frustrated and those in the army and police were summarily dismissed”.

Links to illegal trade in Ivory and forced Kenyatta shares in companies
“How did Kenyatta amass all that wealth given that he was in detention for eight years”, asks Martin Shikuku, a member of the team that negotiated Kenya’s independence constitution at Lancaster House in London in 1962. An outspoken member of Moi’s cabinet, Francis Lotodo, has even demanded that Kenyatta should be tried posthumously for “crimes committed against Kenyans”. Says Martin Shikuku: “It is common knowledge that Kenyatta’s regime thrived on the plunder of the national economy. He surrounded himself with a gang of tribalists that controlled his government.” Shikuku was detained without trial in 1976 by Kenyatta, for saying in parliament that the ruling Kanu party was dead.

Shikuku is particularly scathing in his attacks. “[Kenyatta] was not a nationalist as depicted by historians, he was a manipulator,” Shikuku says. “He concentrated too much power in the presidency, no wonder the colonial governor (Sir Patrick Renison) referred to him as `a leader unto darkness’.” But the respected former Kenyan freedom fighter, Bildad Kaggia, who was detained with Kenyatta in 1958 by the British, appears to have finally twisted the knife by saying that Kenyatta tried “many times” to harm him. Kaggia fell out with Kenyatta in 1969. He now says he refused to amass wealth like other cabinet ministers and that was why he was sidelined. Today, he lives a pauper’s life, operating a small posho mill in central Kenya.

In May 2011, a staff reporter at “investmentnewskenya.com” wrote that an American news magazine noted in 1979 that the Kenyatta family estate was worth $200 million. In a recent report by Kenya’s Citizen TV, the family’s wealth was more that $ 1.9 billion. It is questionable that Forbes reported Uhuru owns 500,000 acres of land, which is equated with the size of Nyanza province. This ownership has always been mentioned under the Kenyatta family. When did Uhuru become the sole owner of his family’s wealth? How did Forbes sort out what was owned by whom? Uhuru’s younger brother Muhoho is noted as the person largely running the family business. Earlier, it was his mother Mama Ngina who was seen as the force behind the vast Kenyatta business empire, which constitutes diverse investments ranging from dairy farming, banking to real estate, among others.

Rumours abound about Uhuru’s elder step sister Margaret Kenyatta, and Mama Ngina’s links to ivory smuggling in the 1970s. On May 22 1975, Jon Tinker wrote in the New Scientist magazine about elephant poaching in Kenya, which involved some prominent persons. Sections of the article are quoted verbatim here: “Kenya has perhaps 120 000 elephants, and every year between 10 000 and 20 000 elephants are being killed for their ivory. At this rate, the Kenyan elephant will be virtually extinct within a decade. Kenya’s ivory trade is currently worth around $10 million a year, but little of this money goes to the poachers. Not much goes to the government of Kenya either, for officially it has banned all private dealing in ivory. The profits are made by a few merchants in Nairobi and Mombasa, who bribe the game department and the wildlife ministry, the customs and the police to let them ship ivory by the ton to Europe, Hong Kong, Japan and People’s China.”

Enough money to compensate the PEV victims
The identity of these ivory queens is a matter of common gossip in Nairobi, and the most prominent of them are said to be Mama Ngina and Margaret Kenyatta, respectively wife and daughter to the President. In Kenya today, you can be sent to prison for what is called rumour-mongering, so in this article I shall confine myself to provable fact. And there is now documentary proof that at least one member of Kenya’s Royal family has recently shipped over six tons of ivory to Red China. Moreover, in spite of repeated denials from the Kenyan wildlife ministry that they have issued any licences to deal in or export raw ivory, this trading is being carried out with the active connivance of the highest officials in the game department.”

Tinker wrote that despite the government’s ban on private ivory export in August 1974, Margaret Kenyatta had since then “illicitly sent over 6 tonnes worth $200 000 to People’s China”. The United African Corporation (Kenya) Limited was a key exporter of ivory to China, Hong Kong and Japan. Records at that time showed she held 16 per cent shares in the company which was registered in 1964. However, by 1974, she held 49 per cent and had become chairperson of the company.

John Kamau’s investigative articles about Kenyatta’s estate published in Kenya’s “Business Daily” in May 2009, did not indicate the amount of money paid to some parcels of land acquired by Jomo Kenyatta and Mama Ngina. Instead, a lot was shown to have been bought under the names of his elder sons, Peter Muigai and Magana Kenyatta. “The only farm registered in Jomo Kenyatta’s name in 1964 was a 5 acre farm he bought from a Mr. J.R. Wood and for KSh 400.” Kenyatta paid KES 45 000 to buy 400 acres of land in Dandora, as trustee to minor son Uhuru.

Logically, Kenyatta’s salary as president was not enough to buy 500,000 acres of land in the 15 years he ruled. There have been rumors of Kenyatta having forced all foreign companies to offer 15 per cent of their shares to his family before trading in Kenya. This might explain the high stakes they have in many businesses. It was recently noted by Citizen TV that the Kenyattas have shares worth $830 million in the privately-owned Commercial Bank of Africa.

There are no records of Uhuru paying taxes on his salary as Gatundu South Member of Parliament since 2002 or as Deputy Prime Minister, since 2008. Did Forbes investigate how much property taxes he pays to the Kenya Revenue Authority? What about reports about large sums of money “disappearing” at Treasury since he became the Finance Minister? What of all the Parliamentary and media reports of the highly-priced and single-sourced procurement of low fuel consuming official cars for ministers? Since Mama Ngina has other chidren beside Uhuru, how did Forbes determine how much Uhuru is worth within the Kenyatta estate? On the other hand, the International Criminal Court chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo must be marvelling because he wants a stop on the transfer of all movable and immovable assests he owns, in case he will be found guilty in the ongoing post election violence (PEV) case. Uhuru is rich enough to compensate the PEV victims if found guilty.

In conclusion, the background of Uhuru Kenyatta’s wealth is awash with alleged illegal acquisitions by other members of his wider family, so it was unethical for Forbes to list him as the richest man in Kenya and the 26th richest man in Africa.

Dr. Jared Odero

Socio Economic Network

Friday, May 24, 2013

Sh51.8m #gold shipment vanishes mysteriously from airport