Anglo Leasing Scandal
He is one of the closest allies of Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki. He has been accused of attempted cover-up in the Anglo Leasing Scandal, which he has earlier claimed that it was a "scandal that never was".
On February 8, 2006, the BBC World Service aired a conversation between Murungi and former Governance and Ethics Permanent Secretary John Githongo where he appears to be coercing Githongo to drop his investigations on the Anglo Leasing Scandal. He had promised that Anura Pereira would forgive a debt of KES 30 million owed by Githongo's father.
Murungi initially maintained that he would not resign his cabinet post despite the allegations of corruption. He claimed that he was innocent and that Githongo's reports are mere propaganda. On the recording, he has commented: "I have listened to the alleged tape recorded evidence. It is truncated, inaudible, insufficient and inadmissible to form any credible proof of the allegations being orchestrated by Mr Githongo" . On 13 February 2006, however, President Mwai Kibaki announced that Murungi had resigned to allow full investigation into the allegations. On 14 February 2006, a day after his resignation, Murungi has claimed that he played no role at all to cover-up the Anglo Leasing Scandal. He has blamed his woes on the politics of National Rainbow Coalition (NARC) and the media. However, it later emerged that President Mwai Kibaki had asked him to resign from the Government.
On 15 November 2006 he was reinstated as Energy Minister by Kibaki. He remained in that position in the Cabinet appointed by Kibaki on January 8, 2008, following the controversial December 2007 election.
Read more about this topic: Kiraitu Murungi
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