Anglo Leasing is the name given to a set of Kenyan security and communications contracts signed from 2002 to 2004 that former anti-corruption chief John Githongo and a parliamentary committee alleged were awarded to fictitious or front companies. Kenya paid about Sh1.4 billion in 2014 to two linked firms after foreign court judgments. Prosecutions began in 2015, and every trial reported concluded so far has ended in acquittal, though one acquittal was overturned in 2025.
No one has been convicted in any Anglo Leasing case in the records reviewed. The police security equipment trial of Deepak and Rashmi Kamani and former officials Dave Mwangi, Joseph Magari and David Onyonka, revived by the High Court on 31 July 2025, was suspended by the Court of Appeal in February 2026 and was still stalled in late June 2026, according to The Standard.
Prosecutors later alleged that former Finance Minister Chris Obure, a former communications permanent secretary, former Postmaster General Francis Chahonyo and former Finance Secretary Samuel Bundotich abused their offices in procuring VSAT equipment from Spacenet Inc. for the Postal Corporation of Kenya between March and July 2002, Capital FM reported. Citizen Digital put the project at Ksh.928 million.
President Mwai Kibaki appointed John Githongo, founder of the Kenyan chapter of Transparency International, as permanent secretary for governance and ethics reporting directly to the president, Voice of America reported.
Prosecutors later alleged that officials and the Kamani family conspired between July 2003 and June 2004 to defraud the government through a supplier financing agreement to computerise Kenya Police systems, a project code-named E-Cops, The Star reported. The Star gave the sum as six million euros, or Sh9.5 billion.
Prosecutors later alleged a conspiracy to defraud the government through a supplier credit agreement to modernise police security equipment between 30 October 2003 and April 2004, Citizen Digital and the Nation reported. Citizen said the Kamanis allegedly received 1.2 million euros through Swiss accounts linked to Apex Finance Corporation and Apex Finance International Corporation.
Githongo resigned as permanent secretary for governance and ethics while on an official trip to London and gave no reason, Voice of America reported. The head of Transparency International Kenya said the decision reflected a loss of confidence in the president's commitment against corruption.
A summary of a dossier compiled by Githongo reached President Kibaki and the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission in November 2005, according to the Guardian as republished by the Mail & Guardian. Githongo was by then living in Britain.
The dossier was leaked to the Nairobi press in late January 2006, the Guardian reported. It alleged that Finance Minister David Mwiraria was involved in a plan to take about 700 million dollars through suspect police and military equipment contracts and also named Vice President Moody Awori, Energy Minister Kiraitu Murungi and former internal security minister Chris Murungaru. The paper said the Auditor General found the Anglo Leasing passport and forensic laboratory contracts, worth about 88 million dollars, were awarded without competition.
Mwiraria resigned, insisted he was innocent and said he was stepping aside while inquiries took place, the Guardian reported.
In his first interview since leaving Kenya, given to the BBC, Githongo said the government had contracted fictitious companies, NPR reported. NPR said he fled to Britain in 2005 after receiving death threats.
NPREnergy Minister Kiraitu Murungi, accused in the Githongo dossier over the Anglo Leasing contracts and of pressing Githongo to back off, resigned along with Education Minister George Saitoti, who was named over the separate Goldenberg affair, the Guardian reported. In a national broadcast, President Kibaki urged patience while investigations took place. Neither man was charged over Anglo Leasing in the records reviewed.
The Public Accounts Committee presented its Anglo Leasing report to Parliament, Voice of America reported, after Reuters said the government had tried to block it being tabled. The Standard reported in 2014 that the report, authored by seven MPs including Uhuru Kenyatta, then Leader of the Official Opposition, said there was credible evidence that Kiraitu Murungi gave protection to Anglo Leasing principals and recommended investigation of Awori, Murungi, Mwiraria and Francis Muthaura. The Standard said the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission later cleared Murungi.
Justice David Majanja refused the Law Society of Kenya's request for orders stopping the Treasury from paying First Mercantile Securities Corporation, finding it had not shown a payment was imminent and noting Parliament's role, The Standard reported the next day.
State House said President Kenyatta authorised the Treasury to pay about Sh1.43 billion to settle judgments won in Geneva and London courts by First Mercantile Securities Corporation and Universal Satspace, Capital FM and the Nation reported. The government said it had exhausted judicial options, cited the need to protect Kenya's overseas assets and credit rating, and said payment did not legitimise transactions it believed were fraudulent, The Standard reported.
Capital FMThe Standard
Daily NationDaily NationThe Standard reported that it had established the Anglo Leasing payments sanctioned by the president were wired to one bank account. The visible part of the report did not name the account holder.
Chris Obure, then Kisii Senator, former permanent secretaries Dave Mwangi and Sammy Kyungu, former Postmaster General Francis Chahonyo, former Finance Secretary Samuel Bundotich, Joseph Magari and David Onyonka denied abuse of office and conspiracy charges before Chief Magistrate Hannah Ndung'u. A magistrate issued international arrest warrants for two foreign suspects, Brian Mills and Bradley Birkenfeld, Capital FM and Business Daily reported. Deepak, Rashmi and Chamanlal Kamani were reported to be abroad and due before the EACC.
Mwiraria pleaded not guilty to abuse of office charges after the court had issued an arrest warrant for failing to appear since March, Business Daily reported.
The court ruled in September 2021 that Obure, Kyungu and Bundotich had a case to answer in the satellite equipment case, Citizen Digital later reported.
Citizen DigitalTrial magistrate Ann Mwangi acquitted the three in the Ksh.928 million Postal Corporation satellite equipment case, finding the prosecution had not proved its case and that they did not benefit from the project, Citizen Digital reported.
Citizen DigitalMagistrate Martha Mutuku acquitted Joseph Magari, Dave Mwangi, David Onyonka, Deepak Kamani, Rashmi Kamani and Inforalent Limited under section 210 of the Criminal Procedure Code, saying they had no case to answer, The Star reported. The Star also listed Mwiraria among the accused.
Chief Magistrate Felix Kombo acquitted former permanent secretaries Dave Mwangi and Joseph Magari, David Onyonka and businessmen Deepak and Rashmi Kamani without putting them on their defence, citing contradictions in the evidence, selective prosecution and failure to call key witnesses, Citizen Digital and the Nation reported. The Nation said he noted that former minister Chris Murungaru was not prosecuted.
The Director of Public Prosecutions appealed the acquittals to the High Court on 29 January 2024, Citizen Digital later reported.
Citizen DigitalJustice Benjamin Musyoki of the Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes Division set aside the January 2024 acquittals of Mwangi, Magari, Onyonka and Deepak and Rashmi Kamani and directed that they be put on their defence, the Nation and The Star reported. This was not a conviction. Citizen Digital also listed Mwiraria, whom it described as deceased, and Chamanlal Kamani, whom the Nation and The Star described as the brothers' late father. Outlets put the alleged sum at Sh3.5 billion (Nation, The Star), Ksh.5.9 billion (Citizen Digital) or 40 million euros (Capital FM).
Magari, Mwangi and Onyonka asked to be tried separately from the Kamanis, with prosecutors' support, while the Kamanis sought a stay pending a Court of Appeal challenge, The Star reported. Chief Magistrate Harrison Barasa refused both requests, saying the matter remained a joint trial as directed by the High Court and no binding stay order existed, The Star reported.
Deepak and Rashmi Kamani asked the Court of Appeal to review the High Court ruling placing them on their defence. The DPP opposed the application, arguing no exceptional circumstances justified halting the trial, Capital FM and Citizen Digital reported.
The trial court was told the Court of Appeal had granted a stay after all parties signed a joint consent order to suspend the trial temporarily, The Standard reported on 21 February 2026. The Nation reported that the appeal judges found the stay application had merit and ordered the appeal heard quickly.
The Standard reported that the Sh3.5 billion case remained stalled after the Court of Appeal delayed hearing the appeal. No new hearing date was reported.
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