Alarm as it emerges online hackers breached CBK servers and electronically stole tax payers money
With his recent cautionary statement to investors to avoid buying the impending Eurobond-II, ODM party leader the Rt. Hon. Raila Odinga has pulled a yet another political masterstroke as he sets to achieve what he set out to do – caution potential investors and put Jubilee under political pressure.
A financial expert contacted by this blogger reckoned, “This is a very very serious statement coming from an opposition leader in any sovereign state. No international investors or credit rating agency would ignore such a warning. It raises the political risk premium up to the ceiling”. Raila’s position is further enhanced by his increase ratings which paint to a closely contested general election.
Whether or not potential investors ignore that caution is neither here nor there but such a caution coming as Kenya head towards elections with a reformed electoral commission will scare institutional investors because the incumbent faces the real and embarassing prospect of being a one-term President who has consistently struggled to gain legitimacy since the controversial 2013 general elections and subsequent supreme Court ruling.
Raila is basically telling any investor foolish enough to swallow the bait in Jubilee Eurobond-II: “buy it if you so wish, BUT when we take over, we won’t pay you”. And we are using the Auditor General report and the Kenyan Constitution to back our position. This isn’t politics. It’s about the brazen theft of sovereign resources by looting state coffers.
The fact that Raila is now NOT even using his own independent assessment over the matter, BUT a report by a Constitutional Office, that of the Auditor General, which means that the highly-paid Jubilee spin doctors cannot turn this into a political propaganda fight.
The loud silence you ‘hear’ from Jubilee after Raila’s statement is also a sign Jubilee has no immediate idea on how to respond to it without being seen to rubbish the Auditor General report which Raila based his argument upon.
Economic analysts contend the Jubilee administration which is still smarting from the Eurobond-I scandal and the killer Northern Collector Tunnel project are unlikely to formally respond to this cautionary statement by Raila.
While releasing his statement, Raila invoked the caution of ‘Odious debt’ which brings an angle to this Eurobond issue that will scare potential investors.
In fact, as long Jubilee cannot account for the monies, any future government, basing it’s decision on the AG report, has grounds to declare the debt as ‘Odious’.
This statement raises very weighty and fundamental issues which cannot be ignored or wished away is further aggravated by the fact unconfirmed rumours have been floating in global financial markets that Kenya’s CBK lost a staggering Ksh2 Billion to an international online hacking syndicate that is suspected to be working in cahoots with CBK insiders.
Sources confirmed that the unprecendented security breach led to the illegal proceeds being wired to the Mediterenian region and the Central Bank of Kenya has remained tight lipped on it ever since.
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