What next for Goldenberg scandal trials?

The death of Dr Wilfred Koinange, a prime suspect in the infamous Sh5.8 billion Goldenberg fraud, brought to an end one of the longest trials of a civil servant in Kenya.
It also dug a void in a case which has run for nearly two decades.

Dr Koinange is the third suspect to die in four years, after former spy chief James Kanyotu (2008) and former Central Bank of Kenya deputy governor Eliphaz Riungu (2011).

This leaves the chief Goldenberg architect Kamlesh Pattni and former KCB general manager Elijah arap Bii as the only surviving suspects.

Head of the Treasury between 1991 and 1993, Dr Koinange was financially and emotionally drained by the case that he could not afford a lawyer. He once pleaded with the court to order the government to give him one.

“The way this case is dragging, I am afraid it might be determined long after I am dead,” Dr Koinange told Nairobi Chief Magistrate Gilbert Mutembei. His premonition has come to pass.

And while he sought the State’s legal assistance, Mr Riungu on the other hand was persuading the magistrate to drop his case on humanitarian and health grounds.

Neither plea was given much attention until Mr Riungu died while undergoing treatment in India. He was 68. To be precise, Mr Riungu had lodged an application for the termination of his case in July last year only to be pronounced dead two months later.

Unlike his co-conspirators, Mr Kanyotu went to the grave with his pecuniary secrets. Not one to broadcast his thoughts, he died the way he lived — a mystery.

But when the remains of Dr Koinange are interred at his Karia Farm, Kiambaa in Kiambu County on Tuesday, there will be little, if any, mention of the case that stalked him for nearly a quarter of his life. He was 73. (READ: Koinange takes last bow after illness)

Dr Koinange had become a permanent fixture in the court corridors and would chat heartily with friends and lawyers before the hearing or mention of his case.

Dressed in designer suits, the bespectacled former Finance PS would forlornly sit for long hours in the dock as his erstwhile juniors recounted his errors of omission and commission in the scam.

Besides the Sh5.8 billion alleged fraud, Dr Koinange and Mr Bii faced additional counts of abuse of office and breach of trust in contravention of government financial regulations.

Dr Koinange and Mr Riungu faced joint charges of causing Sh5.8 billion to be paid to Goldenberg International Limited without lawful authority. They had denied the charges.

Dr Koinange was accused of illegally directing the Central Bank to release the money to the Paymaster General between May 13 and June 28, 1993. The case dragged on until Monday when Dr Koinange took his last bow.

He loathed, in conversations with family and friends, the day he was promoted from Director of Medical Services (1979 – 1987) to permanent secretary in the Ministry of Research, Science and Technology. He would soon be elevated to the Treasury, despite having no knowledge of the workings of the Finance ministry.

In an interview with Business Daily writer John Kamau in 2009, Dr Koinange said he was angry that after many years in government, he was left fighting to clear his name over the theft of billions of shillings because of a signature.

During the Goldenberg Commission of Inquiry chaired by former Court of Appeal Judge Samuel Bosire, Dr Koinange did not deny authorising three payments to Goldenberg. Instead, he said he was acting on orders by President Moi.

“I telephoned the President and told him I have been informed by Prof Phillip Mbithi (then head of the Public Service) that I should pay out all the amount outstanding to Goldenberg International and the President said yes, I have spoken to Prof Mbithi,” he told Justice Bosire.

Dr Koinange signed three letters on April 19, June 28 and July 8, 1993 that sealed his fate. Mr Moi, through his lawyer Mr Mutula Kilonzo, (now Education minister) denied ordering to Dr Koinange to make the payments.

Years later, Justice Bosire was found unsuitable to serve in the Judiciary by the Judges and Magistrates Vetting Board for failing to summon senior government officials, including Mr Moi, despite having been adversely mentioned during the sittings.

His death has left many unanswered questions on the multi-billion export compensation scandal. Now the spotlight turns on the court, Mr Pattni, Mr Bii and the prosecutors:

Which way forward with the death of the man accused of facilitating the payments? Is this the death that literally drove the final nail in the Goldenberg trial coffin?