British intelligence service MI6 extensively spied on retired President Mwai Kibaki for more than three years during his tenure in office.
French newspaper Le Monde have revealed that Kibaki and a team of his strategic advisers were among a host of influential global leaders on MI6 radar.
Another Kenyan on the list of world's influential business moguls who were targeted by MI6, is city tycoon Chris Kirubi.
He was among key global political and business players, who were subject to the British surveillance, which involved intercepting communications as they were being beamed between satellites.
In 2011, Forbes magazine described Kirubi as Kenya’s “most flamboyant tycoon”.
Other leaders who were on UK radar included former Nigerian President Umaru Yar’Adua, then Ghana’s President John Kufuor, Sierra Leone’s leader Ernest Koroma and the presidential palace in Luanda, Angola as well as Yar’Adua’s private secretary.
The French newspaper, in its investigation released a fortnight ago, also revealed that the British intelligence operations also targeted Nigerian billionaire Tony Elumelu, the director of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and several multinational corporations.