Report on graft scandal made public

Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki has ordered the immediate release of a report on the so-called "Goldenberg" corruption scandal, which cost the country more than 10 percent of its annual gross domestic product in the 1990s.

"In February 2003, I established the Goldenberg Commission with a view to unearthing all the illegal dealings of the Goldenberg scam," Kibaki said in a statement. "I have today directed the immediate release of the ... report to the public."

The Goldenberg scandal, which took place when Daniel arap Moi was president of Kenya, was a scam in which the government subsidised exports of gold and diamonds, paying exporters huge percentages over their foreign currency earnings.

The commission, headed by Justice Samuel Bosire, presented its findings to Kibaki on 3 February. The report implicated Kamlesh Pattni, who started a company named Goldenberg International to implement the scam, and current education minister George Saitoti, who was minister of finance at the time.

"I want to assure you of my personal commitment and that of my government to quickly deal with all the corruption and economic crimes of the past and present," Kibaki said on Thursday. "The release of this report marks the beginning of a new phase in the war against corruption," he added.

Kibaki's government, which swept into power in 2003 on a promise to do away with the grand corruption associated with the previous administration, has been plagued by graft scandals in which senior government figures, such as Vice-president Moody Awori and energy minister Kiraitu Murungi, have been implicated.

In 2005, the United States government withheld $2.5 million in aid to the country's anti-corruption campaign until it "could gain a clear picture of the government's true intentions." Several other donors have expressed concern about the government's commitment to the fight against graft.

The release of the Goldenberg report comes in the wake of fresh revelations by John Githongo, former ethics and governance permanent secretary, on the so called "Anglo-Leasing" scandal, in which the government commissioned an alleged non-existent company to print passports with improved security features and build a modern forensic laboratory for the police.

In a BBC broadcast on Wednesday, Githongo played a recording of what he claimed was a conversation he had with Murungi in May 2004, in which the minister urged him to go slow on his inquiries. In exchange, a loan owed by Murungi's father to a powerful businessman would be cancelled.

"The [then] minister of justice [Murungi] was telling me that if I eased off my inquiries then my father's loan matter would be made to go away," Githongo said in the interview.

Murungi, who was not immediately available for comment, has denied corruption allegations against him.

Members of the Kenyan parliament's Public Accounts Committee left for the UK on Thursday, where Githongo lives in self-imposed exile, to interview him about his claims.