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The evidence was obtained through two requests for Mutual Legal Assistance to Switzerland 13 years ago.
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The Director of Public Prosecutions being aggrieved moved to the High Court which overturned the magistrate's decision.
Image: FILE
An anti-corruption court has admitted documents obtained from Swiss authorities being relied on as evidence in the Sh3.5 billion Anglo Leasing case.
The documentary evidence had been struck out by anti-corruption magistrate Felix Kombo in October last year, saying they were not properly preserved before being transmitted to Kenya.
The evidence was obtained through two requests for Mutual Legal Assistance to Switzerland 13 years ago.
The Director of Public Prosecutions being aggrieved moved to the High Court which overturned the magistrate's decision.
With the documents now forming part of the evidence in court, the defence will now be cross-examining the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission lead investigator Ignatius Wekesa who produced them in court.
Wekesa is the last prosecution witness.
On Wednesday, defence lawyers requested time to jointly prepare for the cross examination. Kombo gave them up to Friday when the matter is scheduled for further hearing.
Part of the evidence by Wekesa before court is that they were not able to trace a mysterious foreigner who executed the Anglo Leasing contract that led to the loss of billions of shillings.
During the hearing, the lead investigator told the court that documents in relation to the project were always being signed by one Brian Mills but to date they have never been able to locate him.
“We sought to know who B Mills is but we did not get him. Our endeavours to locate him even through Mutual Legal Assistance from Switzerland and the United Kingdom was futile,” he said.
“It is also clear that B Mills is not featuring in the documents we received as director of Sound Day. It still remains a mystery because of his active roles in this contract of Sound Day.”
Wekesa said not even the Kamani family or the Kenyan government were able to tell them who the mysterious Mills is.
In his testimony, it came out clearly that the directors of Sound Day were Chamanlal Kamani, Deepak Kamani and Rashmi Kamani and not Mills.
The company Sound Day was registered in the British Virgin (BV) Islands, which is a tax haven.
Wekesa said it is easy to register companies in BV Islands as they are not subjected to a lot of scrutiny in terms of directorship.
Sound Day was incorporated on September 21, 1989, at the British Virgin Islands and the Kamanis were the directors of the firm, having taken over from one Collins Foster in 1990.
Wekesa told Kombo that the directorship of company would change from time to time. He further demonstrated to the court how Rashmi Kamani would still sign documents as a director of Sound Day even after they had ceased being directors in 1998.
In the case, the Kamanis alongside David Mwiraria (deceased), former permanent secretaries David Mwangi and Joseph Magari, Sound Day Corporation and Apex Finance are accused of committing an economic crime.
It is alleged that between October 30, 2003, and April 14, 2004, in Nairobi, they conspired with others to engage in a scheme to defraud the government of Kenyan Sh3.5 billion through a suppliers credit contract agreement for the modernisation of the Police Security Equipment and Accessories Project.
(edited by Amol Awuor)