Cord leader Raila Odinga has once again reopened debate on the Euro Bond saga after days of disquiet by demanding an explanation from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and JP Morgan Chase Bank (Johannesburg) Branch.
He wants the two banking institutions that handled Sovereign Bond proceeds on behalf of the government to verify the authenticity of the banking documents the National Treasury has posted on its website to show the movement of the cash raised from the international market.
“It is our expectation that the Federal Reserve Bank of New York will come out clearly and demonstrate that it was not party to what is clearly an elaborate money laundering scheme by producing bank statements detailing movements of the Eurobond proceeds deposited in the account between September 8, 2014 and June 30, 2015,” the Cord leader said.
Raila also demanded an explanation from the JP Morgan Chase Bank (Johannesburg) Branch to ascertain the authenticity of the bank statements posted on the National Treasury’s website and an explanation why the Eurobond proceeds were deposited with them instead of the parent bank in New York.
He also accused the Central Bank of Kenya of displaying illegitimate documents and its silence in posting to the public banking statements capturing the movement of money from New York to Nairobi.
“The CBK knows that money transfer, receipt and instructions for such transactions are accompanied by Swift Code transfer forms including MT103, MT 202 and MT 502. These forms are missing in all the claims the CBK and the Treasury have been putting out. Why?
Your guess is good as mine,” he said. The Cord principal, who spoke at a public forum at Ufungamano House yesterday, further asked President Uhuru Kenyatta to declare the Eurobond matter a “national disaster” and forthwith “institute an independent international forensic audit to completely track and trace the whereabouts of $999 million of the Eurobond Proceeds that were not paid into the Consolidated Fund.”
The private sector was also not spared for their alleged defence of the government over the Eurobond saga. Last month, the Kenya Private Sector Alliance organised a public forum at the University of Nairobi and invited the National Treasury officials and other stakeholders to shed light on the Eurobond saga.
The Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Kenya (ICPAK) CEO Dr Patrick Ngumi and the Kenya Bankers Association CEO Habil Olaka have also written articles in the media in support of the government position that no money was lost.
But according to the Cord leader, their defence is ill-informed and in bad faith. Raila, who has continuously insisted that the proceeds from the Eurobond have not been fully accounted for renewed his demands for the immediate resignation and arraignment in court of National Treasury officials for “refusing to deposit the Eurobond proceeds immediately and in full into the Consolidated Fund.
He also claims they doctored documents to cover up a massive loss of public funds and deliberately mislead the Public Accounts Committee and taxpayers that the Eurobond proceeds were paid in full into the Consolidated Fund.
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