Details
The chief architect beyond the scheme was a relative of the Kenyan businessman Kamlesh Pattni. However, it was Pattni who established Goldenberg International to implement the scheme. The very large sums involved (600 million dollars) indicate that the senior government officials were at least complicit. Almost all the politicians in the Moi government and a considerable percentage of the current Kibaki government have been accused. The judicial system also appears to have been deeply involved, with twenty three of Kenya's senior judges resigning after evidence indicated their involvement.
The scheme began in 1991, almost immediately after the Kenya government, following directions from the IMF, introduced measures to reform the economy and increase international trade and investment, and seems to have stopped in 1993 when it was exposed by a whistleblower, David Munyakei. As a result of this, Munyakei was fired from his position at the Central Bank of Kenya, and spent the next decade of his life poor and largely unemployed. He died in August 2006, leaving three daughters and his wife. There have been two investigations on the scam, one under the Moi government and the other under the current government. The gold was likely imported from Democratic Republic of the Congo; and therefore probably helped finance the war that raged (1997–2002) in that country, and neighbouring Tanzania where illegal gold mining was then booming.
Read more about this topic: Goldenberg Scandal
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