biwott defends record on molasses, ouko death

BIWOTT DEFENDS
RECORD ON MOLASSES,
OUKO DEATH
The former Kerio South MP
has been accused in the press
of corruption and murder.
Now Nicholas Biwott's lawyer
rubbishes claims that he ran
down the Kisumu molasses
plant and killed foreign
minister Robert Ouko
BY ALFRED NYANDIEKA
Propaganda means using information selectively to sway
opinion. Used negatively, it takes the form of lying by
omission.
The article in The Weekend Star, written by Sarah Elderkin,
entitled 'Kisumu Molasses Factory: How Did the Odingas Get
It?' (Siasa, August 18/19) did just that. It dwelt on exploited,
false and long-ago-discredited allegations of corruption
and disputes surrounding the attempted revitalisation of
the Kisumu Molasses plant in the later 1980s that were
put forward as possible motives for the shocking murder
of Kenya's late Foreign minister Dr Robert Ouko in 1990.
The article was fashioned to substantiate support for the
takeover of the Kisumu Molasses plant by Kenya's Prime
Minister Raila Odinga in the late 1990s. After reading the
article, one is left wondering why Elderkin relates the
murder and the plant's takeover. Perhaps that is beside
the point. On the other hand what cannot be left alone, in
the interest of posterity, are the articles' inaccurate and
unacceptably misleading statements that touch on the late
Ouko and the investigations that ensued after his death.
Marianne Briner-Mattern's name
witheld. Why?
For example, Elderkin deliberately refrained from identifying
the principal source of the information that she relied on in
her article, one Marianne Brinner Marten and chose instead
to refer to Marianne Brinner only as "her" or as 'the head of
BAK'.
'Marianne Brinner is in fact the star witness that
Superintendent Troon, who was brought in from Scotland
Yard's organised crime unit to investigate Dr Robert Ouko's
murder, relied on.
Briner-Mattern, Airaehi and the 'Bak'
group "honest" and "reputable"?
In the course of his investigation Troon was put on notice
by Kenya's then Industry minister Dalmas Otieno and
senior civil servants that Airaghi and Marianne were of
CONTINUED ON PAGE II
INSIDE
SIASA: THE WEEK
IN REVIEW *
THE
BIG DEBATE *
OPINION
•
YOUR
LETTERS
II
weekendSTAR *
September 15 /16 2012
FROM PAGE I
"doubtful integrity" but he preferred the evidence of the two
individuals over theirs. Troon explained when he appeared
before the Ouko Judicial Commission of Inquiry held in
1991 that he relied on his personal judgment and that in his
opinion Airaghi and Marianne were "honest and truthful" and
their company 'BAK' was "reputable".
Bak registered day ouko killed
Had Troon chosen to review American, Italian and Swiss
official" documentation and had he actually investigated
Airaghi and Marianne objectively and impartially he would
have discovered that their company BAK Group Marianne
Briner + Partner' company was registered on February 13,
1990, the day that Robert Ouko was murdered .
Extensive documented evidence drawn from company
registers in Switzerland and Spain, incorporation
documents, Dun and Bradstreet reports and other material,
also establish that BAK was not a bona fide company and no
BAK entity ever traded.
He would also have discovered that a judgment delivered
by a civil and criminal court in Milan in March 1987 convicted
and sentenced Domenico Airaghi to imprisonment in March
1987 on extortion charges and for acts of dishonesty
and attempted corruption. Airaghi appealed against his
conviction but the original verdict was upheld on April 4,
1991. He was found by the court to have presented forged
documents to the Milan court in an attempt to establish
his defence and was described by the judge as having
displayed "the attributes of an International Fortune
Hunter"
Airgahi's principle witness at his trial was one
'Marianne Briner', who "lived with Airaghi" and of
whom the judge noted her "unreliability" as a witness.
Marianne Briner who described herself in Airaghi's
court case as a "secretary" of an "International Escort"
and "employment agency", gave evidence in that case.
The Milan court found her evidence in support of Airaghi
to be false. The judge said of Marianne Briner," that it would
be better to draw a "compassionate veil" over her testimony
and commented on her "unreliability" as a witness.
After Dr Ouko's death Airaghi and Marianne tried to extort
$5,975,000 from the Kenya government.
It is a fact therefore, that for the entire time that
Domenico Airgahi and Marianne Brinener were dealing
with Dr Ouko, the Kenya government and subsequently
with Troon, Airaghi was on bail as a convicted criminal and
Marianne, who was implicated in his crime, a proven liar. In
Kenya they behaved no differently from the way they had in
Italy, they were dishonest and extortionist 'fortune hunters'
who gave false evidence
Let me explain.
PRIME MINISTER RAILA ODINGA: He has been vociferous in his defence of the Odinga family against allegations that
it acquired the Kisumu Molasses plant under questionable circumstances.
Who threatened Dr Ouko?
In the article, Elderkin says that BAK indicated that, in the
days ir
ddiately before he died, Ouko had been preparing
a report on the high-level corruption that was hindering the
revival of the molasses plant." Elderkin then says that "The
writer of the memorandum [aka Marianne Brinner] said, " I '
spoke with him [Ouko} last on Saturday, February 10, when
... he [Ouko] told me [Marianne Brinener] he was staying in
Kisumu to finish his report for HE [President Moi]...." Three
days after this conversation about the report Ouko was
preparing on the molasses plant, Ouko was dead.
Marianne Briner-Mattem was the only source of this
allegation and no such report was ever found.
Marianne Briner-Mattern handed over to Troon a letter
that she said she had sent to Dr Ouko on January 29,1990
- two weeks before he died. Troon read out and produced
this letter as evidence at the 1991 Judicial Inquiry. The letter
did in fact allege corruption but the allegation is of election
fraud and accuses Ouko over the 'illegal' employment of
workers at the Kisumu Molasses plant and their misuse as
campaigners for Dr Ouko during the 1988 election. In the
letter Marianne Briner-Mattern says she has appointed a
Nairobi law firm [Kaplan & Stratton] to represent her; that
she plans to meet with President Moi; that Moi will ask Ouko
for an explanation; that Ouko should 'admit a mistake'; and
that she [Marianne] was 'enabling you [Ouko] to prepare
your [Ouko's] defence'.
This letter has nothing to do with claims against Biwott in
relation to kickbacks, rival companies, high-level corruption
as Elderkin would have you believe.
Troon accepted at paragraphs 167,168 and 170 of his
"Final Report' on the death of Hon Dr Ouko that there was
no 'independent evidence' to substantiate or corroborate
Marianne Briher-Mattem's claims that she had spoken to
Dr Ouko, sent him letters shortly before he was murdered,
or if she had, that they had been received. At paragraph
172 of his 'Final Report' Troon wrote, 'I can only rely on what
she [Briner-Mattern] says concerning the letters'. Again he
accepted her testimony "at face value".
Under cross-examination on November 18,1991 by
Bernard Chunga, lead counsel of the Judicial Inquriy, Troon
also accepted that the allegations of corruption about the
Molasses Plant "boil down to BAK directors" who were his
"principal witnesses" and that without these two witnesses
there was no case against Nicholas Biwott.
NICHOLAS BIWOTT AND THE LATE ROBERT OUKO: All decisions relating to the Kisumu Molasses Project were taken
through the Ministry of Industry, first under Dr Robert Ouko and after March 1988 under Dalmas Otieno.
On February 22,2005,15 years after Troon's investigation,
Marianne Briner-Mattern changed her story. Whilst giving
testimony to the Parliamentary committee hearings in
London in February 2005, Marianne claimed that she "knew
more", alleging that another reason for Ouko's murder,
which she had feared for her life revealing before, was that
Ouko knew too much about President Moi's private life and
the provision of 'Ugandan girls' for his pleasure, supplied by
Nicholas Biwott and how these girls were being sterilised
to stop pregnancies to save Moi the embarrassment. This is
information Ouko was going to reveal.
On November 23,2004, giving testimony to the
Gor Sunghu chaired Parliamentary Select Committee
investigating the death of Ouko, Marianne said that "any
papers" she "held regarding Kenya had disappeared",
mysteriously stolen whilst she was in Tanzania and that the
people who stole them, "went out to sea" in a "speed boat".
Again Marianne Briner-Mattern was unable to produce any
evidence in support of her allegations.
The Select Committee denied Biwott's lawyer the right to
cross-examine Marianne.
Revival of Kisumu molasses plant: who
was responsible?
Sarah Elderkin's disingenuous historical account of the
Molasses Plant and claim that in the 1980s the revival of
the Kisumu Molasses plant "eventually fell" under Nicholas
Biwott's auspices as Minister of Energy need to be
corrected.
Biwott did not become Minister of Energy until September
1983 and had nothing to do with its abandonment in 1982
and it being put into receivership in 1983.
Thereafter in 1986 President Moi announced that the
Kisumu 'Molasses Project' was going to be revived and
III
weekendSTAR -fr September September 15 /16 2012
THE LATE GEORGE SAITOTI: He was the Minister of Finance at the time Doctor Robert Ouko's remains were discovered at Got Alila near his Koru Farm in Kisumu.
Italian, Marianne Briner-Mattern.
A week later, on August 6,1987 Ouko gave Airaghi this
authorisation.
On September 23,1987, an Inter-ministerial meeting
chaired by Ouko, that included Nicholas Biwott as Energy
Minister and George Saitoti as Finance Minister formalised
this arrangement with Airaghi whereby a Letter of Intent
was given to BAK stating that "the Italian company has
offered to complete the project and has undertaken to
mobilise funds for this purpose."
Two weeks later on August 19 Ouko wrote to the Attorney
General Matthew Guy Muli informing him of this Letter of
Intent and stating; 'I have discussed this matter with my
colleagues Hon Prof Saitoti and Hon Nicholas Biwott both of
whom fully support my action'.
On November 3,1987, BAK was officially contracted to
carry out a feasibility study for the rehabilitation of the
Molasses Plant on agreed terms that they seek the finances
for this themselves.
Dalmas Otieno takes over
JARAMOGIOGINGA ODINGA: His family is accused of
having illegally acquired the Kisumu Molasses plant.
Ouko, in whose constituency the plant was situated, would
be placed in charge of its revival, and in 1987 Ouko was
appointed Minister of Industry. The Ministry of Industry from
then onwards took the lead role in managing the plant's
revival. Biwott's Ministry of Energy was never in charge of
the project.
On July 291987 Ouko met Airaghi, supposedly a director
of the 'BAK Group'. Elderkin refers to this group as that
'Italian group" that was 'favoured by Ouko regarding the
revival of the molasses plant', although she does not
mention Airaghi by name. At that meeting Airaghi asked for
authorisation to search for funding for the Molasses Project,
find a reputable international contractor to undertake its ; •
completion and obtain a grant from the Italian government
to fund a feasibility study into the Molasses Plant's viability
and status and what needed to be done to complete it
Airaghi's business partner in the 'BAK group' was Swiss-
Following the general election of March 1988, Robert Ouko
became the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Dalmas Otieno
was appointed Minister of Industry and thus took over
responsibility for the Kisumu Molasses plant's rehabilitation.
"Dr Ouko was interested in it [the Kisumu Molasses project]",
Otieno told Troon in his witness statement of May 21,1990,
"but the management of it was maintained at the Ministry
of Industry from the time he left office", adding that, "Airaghi
was passed over to me with the project".
The problem with BAK arose when by September 1988,
the BAK Group had failed to undertake the feasibility study
of the Molasses Project and they had also failed to arrange
funding for the project's completion, this was contrary to
their contract.
On September 27,1988 Dalmas Otieno selected a new
company, this time an American company called F C
Schaffer & Associates, to do the feasibility study for the
Molasses Plant. FC Schaffer & Associates was introduced
to him by the US Embassy and their work was paid for
by a 'Grant of the United States Trade and Development
Program'.
FC Schaffer produced a report on 17 October 1989 in
which they did not find the project viable. Hon Dalmas
Otieno subsequently informed FC. Shaffer on 4 February,
1991, that the Kenyan Government had decided on that
basis not to proceed with the Kisumu Molasses Project.
Ultimately, Airaghi and Marianne and the companies they
introduced [which had been Techint, Asea Brown Boveri
and ....] were excluded from the Kisumu Molasses Project
by Otieno as Minister for Industry because they did not
raise the pre-requisite funding for the project and Airaghi,
according to Otieno's assessment in his witness statement
to Scotland Yard dated May 21,1990, was not considered,
DANIEL ARAP MOI: He constituted a commission of
inquiry to investigate the death of Dr Robert Ouko.
"competent to handle the project and knew nothing about
molasses". "I told him [Airaghi] my views", Otieno said in his
witness statement, "and he never came back".
All decisions relating to the Kisumu Molasses Project were
therefore taken through the Ministry of Industry, first under
Dr Robert Ouko and after March 1988 under Dalmas Otieno.
All were recorded, together with the developments at each
stage, in cabinet minutes and the government's 'Molasses
File'. Troon, however, admitted on November 21,1991, at the
Judicial Inquiry into Dr Ouko's murder, that he did not read,
or even ask to see the 'Molasses file', because he saw no
need for it, as he accepted the evidence of Marianne Brinner
and Airaghi at "face value".
Rival bids and "kickbacks"?
The article referred to an alternative bid for the Kisumu
Molasses project, the attempt to gain "kickbacks" and
Ouko's supposed "corruption report" on this. This claim is
again incorrect because there were no rival bids. The three
Italian firms introduced to the Kisumu Molasses Project prior
to it being cancelled by the Minister for Industry, Dalmas
Otieno, were Technit, Asea Brown Boveri and Tecnomasio. All
three were introduced as already mentioned as nominated
companies by Airgahi- not by Nicholas Biwott, or anyone
else associated with him.
Domenico Airaghi's own documentation, for example his
letter to Dalmas Otieno of June 24,1988, and his witness
statement to Scotland Yard of May 9,1990, proves beyond
doubt that he introduced the Italian companies, not Nicholas
Biwott.
Similarly, the US Company FC Schaffer & Associates that
ended up doing the feasibility study for the Molasses Plant
was brought in by Dalmas Otieno and introduced through
the US Embassy in Nairobi, not Nicholas Biwott.
Airaghi and Briner-Mattern: the source
of the allegations
Elderkin wrote that Dr Ouko 'had told other friends' of
'powerful forces in the cabinet' who were 'opposed to
his determination to expose corruption'. However, closer
inspection of this testimony reveals that ultimately the
source for each of these allegations was either Domenico
Airaghi or Marianne-Briner-Mattern.
Scotland Yard's Detective Superintendent John Troon's
initial investigations into Dr Ouko's murder had focused
on multiple witness testimonies alleging long-running and
bitter rows in the Ouko family, allegations regarding local
political rivalry going back to before the 1988 election, and
allegations of corruption in the Kisumu Town Council, as
possible motives for his murder.
However, detective Troon's line of inquiry changed
dramatically six weeks into his investigation after he
interviewed Marianne on March 22,1990 and switched
to the Kisumu Molasses theory, a theory that originated
IV
weekendSTARir September 15 /16 2012
entirely from Marianne Biner-Mattern's testimony. Dr
Ouko's wife, Christabel, only mentions allegations related
to the Kisumu Molasses project in her fourth statement to
Scotland Yard. She said, however, these were "according to
Marianne and Domenico", whom she referred to as being
"like family".
Likewise Dr Ouko's sister Dorothy Randiak only mentions
the allegations in her third statement to Scotland Yard
where she referred to meeting "one of the Italian men" and
discussing it with Dr Ouko's secretary Esther Ruvaga whose
husband, according to Randiak, "had tried to start a business
with the Italian gentlemen [Airaghi]".
As for Esther Ruvaga, Briner-Mattern said in her
statement to Troon, "I had several conversations with
Dr Ouko's secretary, Esther Ruvaga, about the Molasses
project...". Ruvaga admitted at the Commission of Inquiry
on November 18,1991, that her knowledge of the Kisumu
Molasses project came from "what she was told by Airaghi".
Erick Ouko Rem, "Dr Ouko's campaign manager" spoke
of the allegations in a statement that was, "Further to my
previous statements" when he was "asked by Troon" about
"the Kisumu Molasses Projects and my involvement in these
matters". Rem told Troon, "I have spoken with Airaghi many
times" and admitted that his knowledge of the allegations
came from Airaghi at a discussion they had in the Sunset
Hotel, Kisumu.
Both Mrs Ouko's fourth statement and Dorothy Randiak's
third statement to Scotland Yard were made after Marianne
Briner-Mattern made her allegations over the Kisumu
Molasses project to Troon on March 22,1990, as were the
statements by Ruvaga and Rem. No statements made to
Scotland Yard before Briner-Mattern's on March 22 referred
to the allegations that she made over the Kisumu Molasses
project.
Eric Onyango
In the article, Elderkin specifically mentions Dr Ouko's friend
Eric Onyango in support of allegations of the "kickbacks"
and indeed Onyango's name does appear frequently in the
testimony about Dr Ouko's murder.
According to Troon in paragraph 134 of his 'Final Report'
Onyango, who "had known the Minister [Ouko] for some 25
years and was also a very close friend of the family", had
confirmed the bad relationship between Dr Ouko and his
brother Barrack Mbajah and visited Ouko at his Koru farm on
February 10,1990 (three days before Ouko was murdered]
where they had discussed the recent trip to Washington
which, Onyango said, Dr Ouko told him had gone well 'with
President Moi gaining popularity'.
It was Eric Onyango who according to Dorothy Randiak,
was one of the two people who rang Dr Ouko on the night
before he was murdered. It was also Eric Onyango who
according to Barrack Mbajah called Dr Ouko's mistress,
Herine Ogembo, to tell her that the minister was missing.
And it was Eric Onyango whom Barrack Mbajah alleged
in his affidavit of September 18,1991, was one of the
people who arrived to pick up Dr Ouko on the night he was
murdered.
James K'oyoo
The article also referred to allegations made by a James
K'Oyoo, a 'campaign advisor' to Dr Ouko and a close friend
of Eric Onyango's, who told the Commission of Inquiry in
1991 that Ouko had told him of 'threats to his life over the
molasses plant'. K'Oyoo had made two statements during
Troon's investigation, one on tMarcrTTB:¥hd one on April
23,1990. In neither statement did he mention the name of
Nicholas Biwott, or any alleged threat to Dr Ouko.
In the first of these statements K'Oyoo instead testified
that he had gone to seek Dr Ouko's help in January 1990
because he had been suspended as a personnel clerk
with the Kenya Post Office 'for obtaining employment by
false pretences', specifically for falsifying his education
qualifications (K'Oyoo later admitted to the Commission of
Inquiry that he had indeed lied when applying for the post in
1983].
It was not until some 20 months after the murder of Dr
Ouko that James K'Oyoo first alteged and not until his crossexamination at the Judicial Inquiry, that Dr Robert Ouko had
told him of fears for his safety.
More specifically, in relation to the Kisumu Molasses
project, K'Oyoo alleged at the Commission of Inquiry that
FC Schaffer, the US-based company that did the feasibility
study for the Molasses Plant, was "a mere play and in
totality it was just Biwott in disguise", that "Nigel Williams
[a consultant with FC Schaffer] was a long time friend of
Biwott whose main job was a lobbyist".
The truth is that FC Schaffer had been appointed by
Dalmas Otieno. But unlike the BAK group, FC Schaffer
were a reputable specialist engineering company which
since 1968 had been involved with hundreds of project in
45 countries worldwide. In 1999 the then US Secretary of
State Madeleine Albright had awarded FC Schaffer with the
Department's inaugural award for 'Corporate Excellence'.
K'Oyoo testified to the Commission of Inquiry that he
had travelled to Geneva and London in November 1989, "to
accord myself an adventure of seeing the outside world"
requiring "money which was allocated to me" of "£1,250
:F
DALMAS OTIENO: In September 1988, he selected a new company called FC Schaffer & Associates, to do the feasibility study for the Molasses Plant.
which was about Sh40,000". On the trip he said he had
gone "shopping at [the] renowned Selfridges Store, Oxford
Street" in London. K'Oyoo told the Inquiry that his net salary
at the time "was something like Sh2,900."
In short it is highly surprising that Sarah Elderkin has
sought to rely on K'Oyoo.
Nicholas Biwott not protected
According to the article detective Troon had 'repeatedly'
tried to interview Biwott but 'without success'.
The fact is that Troon told the Ouko Judicial Inquiry on
November 7,1991, that, "I only visited his [Biwott's] office
once", a meeting Troon said that he [Troon] had arranged
earlier that day through Hezekiah Oyugi, then the PS in
the Ministry of Internal Security, but that Nicholas Biwott's
secretary said that 'he wasn't there, hadn't been there the
whole day'. This was not surprising as Biwott was on an
official visit to Tehran at the time.
Troon was then asked by lead counsel Bernard Chunga
at the Ouko Judicial Inquiry whether he had tried to arrange
another meeting with Nicholas Biwott. "No, I did not", replied
Troon, "because I was still pursuing other matters and
interviewing other ministers and I was also being requested
to get my report in".
In 1991 Biwott stated that "On returning from an official
visit to Iran I was told by my secretary that Troon wanted to
see me. I called Phillip Kilonzo, the Commissioner of Police,
who told me that he was sitting next to Troon and would ask
him what he wanted. After a few moments Kilonzo came
back to the 'phone and told me that Troon did not want to
see me. That was the only contact I had with Troon. At that
time I had no reason to believe that I was in any way under
investigation regarding Dr Ouko's murder."
Elderkin's claim that the "commission of inquiry" was
Scotland Yanfs Detective
John Trootf$ initial
investigations into Ouko^s
murder had multiple
witness testimonies allepng
bitter rows m die Ouko
"closed down before any evidence against Biwott could be
heard"does not appear to be the case to any honest and
objective observer.
Before the inquiry was disbanded there had already been
a 4 month barrage of accusatory statements made against
Nicholas Biwott. and Troon had read his 'Final Report' in full
to the Public Inquiry, all 109 pages and 298 paragraphs of it,
which was reported almost verbatim in the Kenyan Press.
The moment Biwott's lawyers started cross-examining
Troon he asked to be stood down to attend "urgent family
business in the UK".
He did not return. As a result of Troon's evidence Biwott,
George Oraro and others that Troon implicated were
arrested. Biwott was subsequently released without charge
after the Kenyan police were unable to find any evidence
linking him in anyway to Ouko's murder and unable to
find any evidence that supported the BAK allegations and
Troon's theories
Detective Troon's failings
At the beginning of Troon's cross- examination at the Judicial
Inquiry in 1991 by Biwott's lawyer, Ishan Kapila, that was cut
short, Troon was forced to concede that he had not read or
asked for the Kenya government's 'Molasses filefthat he"'"
had not investigated the backgrounds of either Domenico
Airaghi or Marianne Briner-Mattern or their company 'BAK;
that he had not personally interviewed Airaghi or read his
diary; that he had not contacted the US, Swiss or Italian
authorities in support of his inquiries. Troon has since then
eluded proper cross-examination.
Troon off the hook: Biwott and Ouko
not British
It is on the basis of Troon's flawed and incompetent
investigation and its dire and tragic impact that Biwott
lodged an official complaint with the Metropolitan Police,
Scotland Yard, and then Prime Minister Tony Blair, requesting
a review of Troon's investigation and an apology for it. In
October 2004 Scotland Yard declined. Biwott, Dr Ouko and
Troon's witnesses were not "UK" citizens.
Facts known for 20 years
These facts can be corroborated. Hon Dalmas Otieno is still a
serving cabinet minister. The US State Department, the US
Embassy in Nairobi, other relevant government authorities
and relevant documents can also confirm the facts, because
all of the evidence referred to and more has been in the
public domain for many years, most of it for 20 years.
Reporting the truth
The truth as to what really did and did not happen up to
and including the murder of Dr Robert Ouko is of critical
importance to Kenyans, to the history of our country, for
the rule of law and for justice. It should not be subverted to
be used for propaganda, or to divert attention from current
events.