The President has put the Auditor General on the spot for saying he will investigate the Federal Reserve Bank of New York over missing Eurobond proceeds.
Uhuru Kenyatta criticised Edward Ouko on Tuesday in an address through which he shared his frustrations in the fight against corruption.
Read: Frustrated Uhuru scolds state officials on rampant corruption
Ouko in May told PAC that he had been given a greenlight by the JP Morgan and Federal Reserve Bank to probe the Eurobond proceeds.
“We are now in a position to say that we have been given appointments to see JP Morgan and other banks that handled the $2 billion Eurobond transactions,” he told the National Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC).
Business Daily said the auditors will visit JP Morgan, Federal Reserve Bank, City Transaction Services New York, JP Securities, Barclays Bank, ICB Standard Bank and Qatar National Bank to scrutinise the transactions data.
Uhuru said in a mix of English, Kiswahili and his native Kikuyu language: "Ati mnataka kuenda kuinterrogate Federal Reserve. Ngai! (You say you want to interrogate the Federal Reserve... God!"
He asked Ouko if this was only so that the media can have something to report.
"You sit back and ask yourself 'are we being serious with what we are doing, are we really being serious'?" he posed at the State House accountability summit on Tuesday.
"Are we really being serious ama ni mchezo tu juu gazeti itaandika? (Are we being serious or just playing games because the stories will be covered by the newspapers?)"
The President went on in Kiswahili: "Mkenya ambaye amekaa kijijini haelewi haya maneno. Anadhani hiyo benki ni ya fulani huku."
In saying so, he raised concern that the regular citizen does not understand the process and thinks the organisation is owned by a Kenyan.
He said investigations should be taken seriously and that Kenyans' lives should not be taken for granted.
Read: How Eurobond cash was spent
Uhuru implicitly rubbished Cord leader Raila Odinga and other politicians who have insisted that the money was stolen or misused.
"Saying Eurobond money was stolen means the Treasury and the Federal Bank of New York colluded to steal the money," he said.
In his address to the summit, Ouko said he has had a rough time since the Eurobond issue came out publicly.
"Since every one has talked about the Eurobond, there is a heavy burden for me to provide a complete report," he said.
Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich maintained that not a single cent from the proceeds was lost.
Raila asked the government to explain how the Sh215 billion from the proceeds was spent as the AG could not account for it.
He questioned the government's silence on the matter before the report by the Auditor General revealed the money was missing.
More on this: Raila warns investors over second Eurobond, asks state to account for missing Sh215 billion
Also read: Courts are weakest link in fight against corruption - AG Muigai
Source
No comments:
Post a Comment