Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka during a previous press conference at his private office. Fresh details have emerged from a probe linking him with Cyprus donors. [Photo: the-star.co.ke]
Investigators probing the Kalonzo Musyoka Foundation (KMF) suspect the money wired to the NGO from Cyprus came from a fictitious organisation, the Star reports.
The investigators, the paper adds, have also narrowed discrepancies between audited accounts and those declared to the NGO Board, withdrawal of cash from ‘illegal’ bank accounts and reference to non-existent donors as sources of some of the millions received.Kalonzo Musyoka, the NASA candidate for deputy president, however, calls the investigation a witch hunt and plot to hurt NASA’s chances of election win on August 8. He denies allegations of money laundering or any other wrongdoing.The Wiper leader filed a suit in May, which is up for mention on July 31, challenging the Board’s decision to close the foundation, freeze accounts and dissolve the board.The court ordered the accounts unfrozen.In 2012, for instance, the foundation received Sh44.9 million donations and only declared Sh11 million to the NGO board, the Star says.The Foundation also acknowledges the Cyprus Association for Famine Relief has been a longstanding donor, but only one grant of Sh933,000 has been declared.“KMF receives donations both in cash and kind. Audited accounts are silent on names of donors in as much as they have given proportions of cash and in-kind donations.However, from annual returns forms, the names of donors are declared. The organisations, including Cyprus Association for Famine Relief, did not seem to exist,” said an internal NGO Board memo seen by the Star.It is said that Kalonzo has close relations with Cyprus politicians and philanthropists and is regularly given university scholarships to award students of his choice to study in the Mediterranean country.Investigators are also checking on the NGO's claims that it collaborated with the China Youth Development Foundation (CYDF) to construct and furnish classrooms in Ukambani under a project dubbed 'Hope for Africa'.