Blow to the Kamanis as court refuses to halt Sh3.5bn Anglo-Leasing case

The Anti-Corruption Court (ACC) has declined to stay the Sh3.5 billion Anglo-Leasing scam case against two(2) international businessmen, Deepak Kamani and Rashmi Kamani, pending the outcome of an appeal they have filed challenging their trial.

Instead, Milimani ACC Chief Magistrate Harrison Barasa ordered Deepak and Rashmi to appear before him on Wednesday (today), August 27, 2025, to state how they will defend themselves in the corruption case.

Mr Barasa required the businessmen to explain to him the manner of undertaking their defenses as to whether they will give either sworn or unsworn defenses or keep quiet then allow the court to determine the case against them based on the testimony of 37 witnesses called by Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Renson Ingonga.

At the same time, Mr Barasa also rejected an application by three(3) former Permanent Secretaries (PSs) Joseph Magari, Dave Mwangi, and David Onyonka seeking to be tried separately in the Anglo-Leasing.

The PSs, who are jointly charged with the Kamanis in the mega-graft case, had pleaded with the magistrate to receive their defenses separately while the businessmen battle to quash the case at the Court of Appeal.

Mr Barasa dismissed the applications for staying the proceedings against the Kamanis and trying the PSs separately.

In his ruling, Mr Barasa said when the High Court quashed the acquittal of the PSs and the Kamanis on July 30, 2025, it directed that all the suspects be placed on their defenses.

“The High Court ordered all the accused to be placed on their defences,” ruled Mr Barasa.

He added that even though the Kamanis have moved to the Court of Appeal to challenge Justice Benjamin Musyoki’s directive that they be put on their defenses, “there is no order staying the anti-corruption proceedings before him.”

The magistrate fixed all the accused persons to commence their defenses on November 17, 2025.

On July 30, 2025 Justice Musyoki allowed the appeal filed by the DPP challenging the acquittal of all the accused persons for lack of evidence.

However, after evaluating the evidence tendered in the security apparatus tender awarded to companies associated with the Kamanis, Justice Musyoki established the DPP had tendered humble evidence to warrant the accused to be placed on their defence.

The move to stay the proceedings by the Kamanis pending the outcome of the appeal was vehemently opposed by the DPP and the PSs.

Senior Counsel (SC) Fred Ngatia, for the three(3) ex-PSs--Magari (Finance), Mwangi (Provincial Administration), and Onyonka (Home Affairs)--had urged the court to separate their trial from that of the Kamani brothers to avoid being entangled in a further prolonged litigation.

Mr Ngatia told the court that the interests of justice would be better served if the trial was split.

“The application by the Kamanis to appeal the ruling will likely delay this trial, which has been in court for a decade,” Mr Ngatia told Mr Barasa.

“Since the other accused persons are ready to proceed with their defence, we ask that their trial be seperated.”

Mr Ngatia emphasized that the first joint charge, conspiracy to defraud the government, had already been dismissed, first by the trial court and later upheld by the High Court, leaving no overlapping charges between the PSs and the Kamanis.

“With that dismissal upheld, what unfolds is that there are now two(2) parallel lines,” he explained.

“On one hand, we have the PSs with counts unique to them, and on the other, the Kamanis with their own charges. Even if the trial was to proceed jointly before you, it would essentially be two(2) trials within one(1), but very distinct.”

The new twist in the security apparatus scam case came after Justice Musyoki, on July 31, 2025, overturned the January 19, 2024, acquitting the PSs Magari, Mwangi, Onyonka, and businessmen Deepak and Rashmi Kamani.

The judge found that the Director of Public Prosecutions had established a prima facie case showing that the project, which involved the supply of security equipment, was irregularly authorised by the PSs and former Interior Minister Chris Murungaru, without any budgetary allocation.

“There is a letter dated December 5, 2003, in which the former PS of Finance, at paragraph three(3), suggested that there was no budget for the project and was seeking to utilise supplier credit arrangement. In my opinion, that meant there was no appropriation for the credit financing for that year,” the judge noted.

The judge was particularly concerned about the payment trail of the funds.

Though the supplier was Sound Day Corporation, the payment was made not to it, but to Apex Finance Corporation, an offshore company linked to the Kamani family.

“The money was not paid to the supplier, but to Apex Finance Corporation. Apex was not a party to the contract, although the contract provided that the money was to be paid to its account,” the judge said.

“Apex did not, on the face of the evidence, provide any service at the receipt of the same money. It must be explained, especially when it comes from government funds.”

He added that the Kamani brothers must explain why they received Euros 1.2 million (approximately Sh190 million) from the transaction, noting they had previously denied links to Apex Finance, which was registered in Mauritius on January 8, 1998.

“There is evidence that the Kamanis were directors of the company when it was incorporated in Mauritius. There are also declarations of trust dated October 13, 2001, by shareholders of Apex showing that they held the shares as nominees of the respondents.

The court heard that Sound Day Corporation and Apex Finance, both tied to the Kamanis, were single-sourced by the Government of Kenya to supply security equipment for the Kenya Police Forensic Laboratory.  

However, there was no evidence that the equipment were ever delivered.