Kenya, under Western scrutiny over corruption scandals, vowed on Thursday to end graft but remained silent on the timeframe for prosecutions related to one of the country's biggest scams, according to Reuters. The government has come under pressure to speed up investigation of officials implicated in "Anglo Leasing" since details were leaked by John Githongo, an exiled whistle-blower and former presidential adviser on corruption, in January. Despite the initial furore, investigations have been sluggish into the scandal in which state contracts worth at least $200 million went to a phantom firm, in procurements that began under former president Daniel arap Moi. The scandal handed President Mwai Kibaki his biggest political crisis since his ruling coalition took power in 2002, vowing to stamp out rampant corruption, and forced two ministers to resign. But Justice and Constitutional Affairs Minister Martha Karua defended the government on Thursday. "All (the contracts) were conceived, and negotiated during the Moi era and some were executed during our time," she told a news conference. Karua issued a list of the 18 deals that constitute the Anglo Leasing dossier detailing the ministers in charge at the time the tenders were issued. She said the government was committed to fighting graft but fell short of giving a timetable for the completion of the investigations. "It will take as long as is necessary. We will be able to complete some now, some may not be complete. But the fact that they are out in the open, they never can be covered up again." Karua's comments came two days after Kenya's top anti-graft official Aaron Ringera defended himself against allegations that he had asked Githongo to stop his pursuit of Anglo Leasing. Githongo, who left Kenya for Britain in early 2005, was reported to have accused Ringera of telling him that there would be no prosecutions until after elections, scheduled for 2007. Ringera denied the claims. Analysts said Karua's list was not new and did not shed light on the progress of investigations and prosecutions. "In the bigger picture she is really not giving any new information, just re-supplying old information. They have a pile of information on Anglo Leasing -- what are they doing with it?" analyst Robert Shaw told Reuters.
