In the early 1990s Goldenberg International received export compensation from the Kenyan government for gold and diamond exports that a later judicial commission found it had not made. The Bosire Commission reported in 2005 and, according to news reports, urged the Attorney General to consider charging former Finance Minister George Saitoti. Courts halted the prosecutions of the main accused, others died before trial, and civil disputes over recovered assets continued into 2026.
No one has been convicted over the Goldenberg payments. The criminal cases were terminated by court rulings or ended by deaths, and on 31 July 2026 the Court of Appeal dismissed a long running refund claim against the Central Bank over the Grand Regency Hotel.
Goldenberg International Ltd was registered in July 1990 with nominal capital of 100,000 shillings, its two issued shares held by Kamlesh Pattni and James Kanyotu, then Director of Intelligence, according to the Bosire Commission report. The commission found no evidence that the company mined gold or diamonds.
On 8 October 1990 Pattni applied to the Minister for Finance for, among other things, export compensation of 35 percent on gold and diamond jewellery exports, and Vice President and Finance Minister George Saitoti endorsed it with the words approval is granted save for the monopoly, the commission found. The report called the application a mere ruse and said it falsely stated that diamonds were mined in Kenya.
Exchange Bank, linked to Pattni and Kanyotu, began operating on 4 June 1992, the commission found, adding that its proposed capital of 40 million shillings was never paid up.
Kamlesh Pattni was first charged in 1993 with conspiracy to defraud the government, the Daily Nation reported. He later faced a 5.8 billion shilling fraud case in which former Treasury permanent secretary Wilfred Koinange and former Kenya Commercial Bank general manager Elijah arap Bii were also accused, the paper said.
Daily NationAccording to the Central Bank of Kenya's account reported by the Daily Nation, Pattni agreed on 10 August 1993 to pay the bank 2.5 billion shillings, secured against the Grand Regency Hotel in Nairobi.
Westmont Holdings, a Malaysian company, and Pattni filed suit in October 1998 seeking a refund of a deposit paid toward a proposed purchase of the Grand Regency Hotel, AllAfrica reported in 2026.
AllAfrica (Capital FM)The Judicial Commission of Inquiry into the Goldenberg Affair was appointed by Gazette Notices 1237 and 1238 of 24 February 2003, its report states. Justice Samuel Bosire of the Court of Appeal chaired it, with Peter Le Pelley as commissioner. Its terms of reference were widened on 29 July 2003, and Nzamba Kitonga replaced Justice D.K. Aganyanya as vice chairman on 29 October 2003.
The commission suspended its hearings on their 282nd day after a High Court order reinstated two lawyers it had ejected, AFP reported. Commissioner Peter Le Pelley called the order one sided.
The commission dated its report October 2005 and addressed it to President Mwai Kibaki, according to the report's cover and letter of transmittal.
President Kibaki ordered the immediate public release of the report, IRIN reported. It said the report implicated Pattni, as founder of Goldenberg International, and Saitoti, finance minister at the time and education minister in 2006, and that the scheme cost Kenya more than 10 percent of annual GDP in the 1990s.
George Saitoti resigned as education minister on Monday 13 February 2006 after the report urged the Attorney General to consider whether he should face charges, the Guardian reported. Kibaki accepted the resignation so investigations could proceed.
A High Court bench of Justices Joseph Nyamu, Roselyne Wendoh and Mathew Emukule ordered the parts of the report concerning Saitoti removed and halted his prosecution, the Daily Nation and The Standard reported. Nyamu found the commission's conclusions on Saitoti irrational and held the payments had been approved by Parliament.
The state withdrew its Goldenberg case against James Kanyotu in March 2008, after he died the previous month, Capital FM and the Daily Nation reported.
Pattni surrendered the Grand Regency Hotel to the Central Bank of Kenya to settle about 2.5 billion shillings owed through Exchange Bank, Capital FM reported via AllAfrica. The bank sold it to Libyan investors in 2008, which the Daily Nation said led to a commission of inquiry, the Cockar Commission.
Justices Nyamu, Wendoh and George Dulu stopped the prosecution of former Central Bank governor Eric Kotut and struck out the report's paragraphs implicating him, finding the inquiry biased and the delay unfair, Capital FM reported. The Daily Nation reported that Attorney General Amos Wako told the DPP to appeal.
The Judges and Magistrates Vetting Board found Justice Bosire and Justice Nyamu unsuitable to continue as appeal judges, The Standard reported, citing Bosire's refusal as commission chairman to obey a court order on summoning witnesses and Nyamu's Goldenberg rulings.
Justice Joseph Mutava discharged Pattni and Elijah arap Bii of all charges and barred further prosecution, finding their rights had been violated by delay, lost documents, unavailable witnesses and the settlements with the Central Bank, the Daily Nation reported. Business Daily said the judgment was dated 20 March, while a DPP letter quoted by Capital FM referred to the decision of 25 March 2013.
Director of Public Prosecutions Keriako Tobiko said he would appeal the ruling, the Daily Nation and Capital FM reported.
Pattni left the Milimani magistrate's court a free man after the criminal charges were formally terminated in line with the High Court judgment, Business Daily reported.
Citizen Digital reported that the Judicial Service Commission suspended Justice Mutava in May 2015 and that a tribunal appointed by President Uhuru Kenyatta began examining complaints against him, including from the Law Society of Kenya, over matters that included his Pattni ruling.
Citizen DigitalJustice Richard Mwongo dismissed Westmont's claim against the Central Bank, finding the company failed to pay the balance of the purchase price on time, the Daily Nation reported. The Court of Appeal later dismissed the appeal in 2017 after the company failed to deposit security, the paper said.
Daily NationThe Supreme Court dismissed Mutava's appeal and upheld the tribunal's recommendation that he be removed from office, finding his conduct amounted to gross misconduct, The Star and Kenyans.co.ke reported. Kenyans.co.ke linked his removal to the Pattni ruling.
The Court of Appeal dismissed an appeal by the former Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission and upheld a 10 million shilling instruction fee it had been ordered to pay two companies, The Citizen reported. Kenyans.co.ke, citing Business Daily, identified them as the Pattni linked firms Marshalls East Africa and Delphis Bank.
The Supreme Court directed the Court of Appeal to hear Westmont's Grand Regency appeal on its merits, the Daily Nation reported.
Daily NationJustices Joel Ngugi, Nduma Nderi and Katwa Kigen dismissed the 185.5 million shilling refund claim by Westmont and Pattni, finding the money was lawfully applied by the Central Bank to Exchange Bank's liabilities, AllAfrica reported, citing Capital FM. The bank's counterclaim was also dismissed. The Standard reported that the Court of Appeal had ended a claim against the bank over the hotel worth more than 3.5 billion shillings.
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Kenyans.co.ke · kenyans.co.ke Daily Nation · nation.africa AllAfrica (Capital FM) · allafrica.com Kenyans.co.ke · kenyans.co.keLast updated 1 November 2026. Spotted an error? See corrections. Every event links to the record it comes from. Allegations are attributed to whoever made them.