Goldenberg scandal

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The so-called Goldenberg scandal , which occurred in Kenya in the early 1990s , involved a sum of money from corruption that, at around 700 million euros, comprised 10 percent of the country's gross national product. Obviously, in addition to corrupt business captains, numerous members of the then government of President Daniel arap Moi , but also some of the new government of President Mwai Kibaki (since 2002/03) were involved. The presidents from either government were not involved, but Moi's children and various backers were involved.

Tax exemption and subsidies

Like most countries, the Kenyan government guarantees large international corporations tax exemption on certain export goods and occasionally subsidizes them. Exporters who received hard currency (US dollars) after selling their goods on the world market and invested this proceeds in Kenya Shillings (KES) at the Kenya Central Bank received a subsidy of 20 percent from the bank on the amount exchanged. Now Kenya has hardly any high-quality export goods such as diamonds or oil. But in Kenya there is a tiny gold mine near Kakamega , which only makes a minimal contribution to the country's gross national product. So as soon as you export gold from this mine and sell it on the world market, you can make a hefty profit from the government. However, the gold is not available in this amount. This is where the scandal begins.

The trick

The transactions began in 1991 immediately after the Kenyan government under Moi began to tackle economic reforms and opened the country to the world market and international investment. The masterminds in business and government found a way to mine gold in large quantities: In the chaos of war it was simply smuggled in from neighboring Congo and legally sold as Kenyan gold on the world market. On the side of the Congo, this financed the war there. Because Kenya received hard currency for this, the government paid a certain number of percent to the company Goldenberg International as commission. Goldenberg received 35 percent above the world market price from the government. How much or whether gold was exported is not yet entirely clear. In any case, the government paid the commission.

The profiteers

A lucrative business in which many partners became rich, as was only later known, so did almost the entire government team of President Moi. The architect of the big deal, however, was the Kenyan businessman Kamlesh Pattni with a relative. Pattni was with Kanyotou, a bank director of First American Bank and head of the "Special branch" (a special unit of the paramilitary police), director of Goldenberg International. Pattnie named ex-president Moi as a shareholder in the company. Moi's two sons and daughter were also involved in the Goldenberg-Reibach. Corruption had also reached the highest levels of justice. Twenty-three of Kenya's senior judges lost their posts after evidence of corruption. Presumably, hush money also flowed to journalists.

In 1993, the Goldenberg transactions were halted because they were betrayed by David Munyakei's testimony . The affair was investigated under both Moi and Kibaki. Since then, the Goldenberg scandal has been a daily companion of the mass media and the population. For example, television showed B. Pattni was interrogated for hours every day.

Bosire Report

Under Kibaki, judge Bosire investigated the Goldenberg scandal. On February 3, 2006, he presented his so-called "Bosire Report". The report recommended indicting then Minister of Education George Saitoti and interrogating ex-President Moi. Saitoti had been both vice president and finance minister under Moi. President Kibaki announced on February 13, 2006 the voluntary resignation of his veteran minister.

The report noted that Lima Ltd., which belonged to Moi's son Gideon Moi and Nicholas Biwott , his ex-minister feared and hated by the population, received KES 6.3 million (EUR 80,000) from Goldenberg and none of the company owners could make a statement about the performance for which. Approximately KES 160 billion (EUR 2 billion) of government funds had been distributed to 487 companies and individuals. At the top of the corruption list was Goldenberg with KES 35 billion (EUR 440 million).

On July 31, 2006, the Kenyan Supreme Court ruled not to indict Saitoti as an accomplice in the Goldenberg scandal. This resulted in a negative reaction from the media (Kenyan Times, Daily Nation).

On November 15, 2006, he was reinstated as Minister of Education by President Kibaki.

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