A huge leak of financial papers dubbed Pandora Papers recently revealed that President Uhuru Kenyatta’s family secretly owns a network of offshore companies for decades. President Kenyatta and six members of his family have been linked to 13 offshore companies.
When asked for a comment on the financial papers leaks, the President said that the investigation would go a long way in enhancing the financial transparency and openness that we require in Kenya and around the globe.
The Kenyattas’ offshore investments, including a company with stocks and bonds worth Ksh. 3.3 billion ($30m), were discovered among hundreds of thousands of pages of administrative paperwork from the archives of 14 law firms and service providers in Panama and the British Virgin Islands (BVI) and other tax havens.
The secret assets were uncovered by an investigation, published by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), Finance Uncovered, Finance Uncovered, Africa Uncensored and other news organisations.
Documents show that a foundation called Varies was set up in 2003 in Panama, naming Mr. Kenyatta’s mother, Ngina Kenyatta, 88, as the first benefactor, and Uhuru Kenyatta as the second benefactor, who would inherit it after her death. The purpose of the foundation and the value of its assets are unknown.
There is currently no available estimate of the Kenyatta family’s net worth but its vast business interests span transport, insurance, hotels, farming, land ownership and the media industry in Kenya.
The Pandora Papers report comes at a time when President Kenyatta has over and again insisted on fighting against corruption promoting transparency as his ultimate legacy. He promised to work with parliament to create a law that would oblige public officials to declare their wealth, but MPs are yet to pass this bill.
Other world leaders named in the Pandora Papers include the King of Jordan Abdullah II, former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, Gabon’s President Ali Bongo Ondimba and President of Congo-Brazzaville Denis Sassou-Nguesso.
Named as Client 13173 in the Pandora Papers, it has been revealed that in 1999, Mrs. Kenyatta and her two daughters, Kristina and Anna, set up an offshore company, Milrun International Limited, which was incorporated in the BVI.
A search of public records in BVI and Panama further found that most of the companies linked to the Kenyattas are now dormant, some of them as a result of non-payment of regulatory fees.
While it is not illegal to run secret companies, some have been used as a front to divert money, avoid taxes and for money laundering.
The Pandora Papers, however, show no evidence that the Kenyatta family stole or hid state assets in their offshore companies.