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Chris Obure Freed By Court Over Lack Of Evidence In The 1.3Billion Anglo Leasing Scandal

SK 2 years ago 2 min read

Chris Obure, the former Transport Chief Administrative Secretary, can now breathe easier after a court released him for lack of evidence in the KSh 1.3 billion Anglo Leasing scandal.

Obure’s co-accused are former Postmaster-General Francis Chahonyo, former Transport PS Sammy Kyungu, and former Finance Secretary Samuel Bundotich. The prosecution failed to prove all of the charges against the suspects, according to the Nairobi court.

Former transport chief administrative, Chris Obure

Chief Magistrate Ann Mwangi stated that while the suspects were involved in the project’s execution, they did not act arbitrarily and did not benefit themselves.

“All this has now ended, and the truth has finally come out. What the magistrate said is that we did not derive any benefits out of any decisions we took and the contract we executed during that period,” Obure said while addressing the media outside the court after the ruling.”

Obure dragged Amani National Congress (ANC) leader Musalia Mudavadi’s name into the multibillion-dollar scandal in December 2021. Obure testified in his defense on Wednesday, December 1, 2021, that it was Mudavadi who initiated the Anglo Leasing projects related to the procurement of equipment for the Postal Corporation of Kenya (PCK). The CAS testified before Mwangi that Mudavadi wrote to him on May 9, 2002, requesting direct procurement of equipment for upgrading postal services across the country.

The letter informed Obure that the improved postal services would make it easier to pay teachers, postal workers, and other civil servants at the grassroots level. Mudavadi was vice president and Minister of Transport and Communication in the late President Daniel Moi’s government at the time, while Obure was Finance Minister. Obure’s case is one of the Anglo Leasing scandals, in which 18 high-value government security contracts allegedly were awarded to fictitious companies, resulting in the loss of KSh 5 billion in public funds.

In February 2021, DPP Noordin Haji expressed frustration with the numerous adjournments in the KSh 5 billion Anglo Leasing fraud case. The DPP informed Milimani Chief Magistrate Martha Mutuku, through State Counsel Eva Kanyuira, that the prosecution was frustrated because the case had been delayed for days with no good reason given. Kanyuira asked lawyers for suspects to take the case seriously because it had been in court for six years.