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Kenya Among Countries Mentioned in Panama Papers Leak

BY Soko Directory Team · April 4, 2016 12:04 pm

Eleven million documents held by the Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca passed to German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung, and then shared with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists reveal how the rich and powerful use tax havens to hide their wealth.

Out of sixteen Africa Countries, Kenya has not been spared within the revelation.

Kalpana Rawal, the deputy chief justice of Kenya who was sworn in June 2013 after taking over after Ms. Nancy Barasa who resigned instead of facing the Supreme Court to hear of her appeal. Barasa was accused of threatening a security guard with a gun.  

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Rawal on the other hand, has been fighting an attempt by the Judicial Services Commission to force her to retire from Kenya’s Supreme Court on her 70th birthday in January 2016.

Rawal with over 40 years’ experience in the legal profession, and described by the Kenya Law as, “A loving wife, caring mother of two and proud grandmother of three”, looks like the tip of an iceberg.

The Mossack Fonseca data reveals that Rawal,  “Rawal and her husband were directors of two companies based in the British Virgin Islands, prior to her joining the nation’s Supreme Court. The family used other offshore companies to buy and sell real estate in London and nearby Surrey.”

  • Montague Real Estate SA was used in 2004 to buy a London flat for $1.12 million, which they sold in 2006.
  • Innovate Global Limited was used to buy a house in Surrey for $2.74 million and a London apartment which they bought for $967,000 in 2004 and sold for $1.62 million in 2013.
  • Through Arklyn International Limited, they bought another two London apartments, one bought for $1.66 million in 2005 and sold for $2.23 million in 2011, and the other bought for $1.57 million in 2005 and sold for $2.15 million in 2012.

However, she says without her knowledge, she was listed as director on two of them by her husband when he was told two directors were required.

“My family members include my two adult sons residing in London, both of whom are British subjects and run the business as per the laws applicable in U.K.” She said has never had “any involvement direct or indirect and have no interest or control” in the other companies.

Offshore accounts aren’t illegal

The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) according to Panama papers, sifted through thousands of emails, documents and images to find names that were in the public interest. The year-long investigation unveiled connections to companies in many different tax havens, their uses and their real owners, whose identities were sometimes hidden behind layers of secrecy.

It further clarifies that, “There are legitimate uses for offshore companies, and we do not intend to suggest or imply that any individuals or entities included in the interactive were in violation of the law.”

 

On the contrary, if persons mentioned ever violated the law, then it raises many questions that Kenya and the rest of the continent is trying to tackle.

The Transparency International 2015 Corruption Perceptions Index ranks Kenya 139 out 168 countries.

Chantal Uwimana, TI Director for Sub-Saharan Africa no