• DPP tells leaders to vet donations from politicians.
• Says church has a role in the fight against corruption.
Image: EZEKIEL AMING'A
DPP Noordin Haji yesterday appealed to religious leaders not to accept donations that could be proceeds of corruption.
Speaking during a meeting that brought together religious leaders in Nairobi, Haji called on the faith leaders to join the war against corruption, telling them to consider vetting the source of donations.
“I would like to make a very candid request: please consider refusing donations from questionable origins. If you need help, tell us,” he said.
The meeting examined ways of collaboration between religious leaders and the investigative agencies.
Haji called on the United Kingdom to extradite businessman Yagnesh Devani failure to which Kenya will reconsider mutual cooperation.
He said UK has delayed to hand over the businessman behind the Sh7.6 billion Triton petroleum scandal.
“We want Devani here. They either bring him or we no longer cooperate. It is a give and take. He has exhausted all the avenues available and he should be extradited,” he said.
Devani is wanted in Kenya to face fraud and corruption charges for releasing Triton Petroleum Limited company’s stock of fuel from the Kenya Pipeline Company’s storage tanks without informing the financiers in 2008.
Devani fled the country in 2009 to India and then the UK after the scandal.
The DPP said investigative agencies are going through a lot of challenges especially in cases that are cross-border which require a long process.
On the ongoing investigation into the fake gold scam, Haji said he was yet to receive the file from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations as some of the suspects were said to be out of the country.
Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission CEO Twalib Mbarak said they were now shifting their focus to the “big fish” both in the national and the county governments.
“Religious leaders in the church ,mosque or any other place of worship, you must lead the way in sensitizing your congregations to shun corruption,” he said.
He said by July last year, EACC had traced assets acquired from proceeds of corruption amounting to Sh4.1billion .
In a reference to governors’ request to be handled respectfully during arrests, Twalib said criminal suspects will be treated as such.
“The approach to fight corruption must be through different axes. I must tell governors they should not be afraid of our undercover investigations because the public is volunteering information and we will act on it,” Twalib said.
He said going forward, they will be proposing changes to the law to make it mandatory for government and its agencies to implement EACC's recommendations on corruption prevention.
The Director of Criminal Investigations George Kinoti decried political interference by powerful forces whom he did not name.
He affirmed that his office has the constitutional mandated to investigate all sorts of corruption allegations.
“Sometimes we feel the public misunderstands us since there is nobody to speak for us. When politicians come to church podiums, what they do is only to castigate. So we are asking as men and women chosen by God please assist us for this message to be given to the public,” Kinoti said.
EACC chairman Eliud Wabukhala urged the clergymen to sensitise their congregants to shun corruption.
He called on the leaders to play a role in vetting of the leaders who offer themselves for elective positions, saying faith organisations should be in a position to call out leaders who are not fit to hold public office.
“Let us begin that role as the clergy to educate the people as faith-based organisation. We need to assist these agencies in the war on corruption . You need to participate in the vetting of the leaders so that those elected are men and women of integrity,” he said.
In a joint statement read by ACK archbishop Jackosn Ole Sapit, the religious leaders resolved to be part and parcel of the war against corruption.
“We want to appeal to our congregants, followers and the people we are jointly called to serve to desist from corruption. We also appeal to our political leaders to refrain from politicising the war on corruption but instead join hands with us and the government to end this vice,” they said.