Former deputy Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) governor Jacinta Wanjala Mwatela today clarified that the regulator had no legal mandate to advice the government on Anglo- Leasing security contracts.
She also denied ever seeing the controversial contracts or even participating in their negotiations before the CBK approved payments for the security contracts.
“The CBK did not have any privilege to see the several security contracts the government had entered into from different ministries even after we had made request for the same to be availed to us before we approved the payments,”said the witness .
She said that such advice was confined to the Attorney General’s office and that CBK’s role was only to release payment which had been certified by respective authorities, adding that the regulator was not consulted on the alleged security contracts.
Mwatela was referring to the controversial Anglo leasing contract that gave rise to the trial of senior government officers and businessmen Deepak and Rashmi Kamani. She said that only the AG can give legal advice.
Mwatela further clarified that under Section 31 of the CBK Act only the AG can give the government legal opinion. “It is not CBK’s mandate to give the government legal advice on contracts, there are departments that give the government legal advice,” she said.
Other witnesses who have already testified told the trial magistrate Martha Mutuku that the AG okayed the Anglo-leasing contract.
“As acting governor I tried to find out whether previous governors were involved and I did not find any documentary evidenced of their involvement,” Mwatela said.
She said that external payments were being coordinated from the treasury and that CBK was not involved in the negotiation of the Anglo-leasing contract.
