Pandora Papers: Leaked Records Expose President Uhuru Family's Secret Offshore Accounts

President Kenyatta’s family has been mentioned in a new investigation that exposed how wealthy individuals used offshore tax havens to hide assets worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

The exposé dubbed the Pandora Papers is based on documents leaked to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalism (ICIJ), a network of reporters and media organizations.

Aided by more than 600 journalists from 150 media outlets, ICIJ examined 11.9 million confidential files leaked to it from 14 offshore services companies from around the world.

The documents were linked to over 330 politicians and public officials, including 35 current and former national leaders in more than 91 countries.

President Kenyatta and six members of his family secretly owned a network of 11 offshore companies, according to records. One of the companies was found to be holding assets worth US$30 million (Sh3.31 billion).

Leaked records named President Uhuru and his mother Mama Ngina Kenyatta as beneficiaries of a secretive foundation in Panama.

Uhuru’s brother and two sisters allegedly own five offshore companies with assets worth more than $30 million, the investigation reveals.

“Kenyatta and his family did not reply to requests for comment,” ICIJ says in the report.

ICIJ noted that the Kenyatta family began to accumulate much of its offshore wealth before Uhuru became President in 2013.

Records from Panamanian law firm Aleman, Cordero, Galindo & Lee (Alcogal) showed that the Kenyatta family “owned at least seven such entities, two registered anonymously in Panama and five in the British Virgin Islands.”

“One BVI company owned a home in central London, according to the records, and two other companies held investment portfolios worth tens of millions of dollars,” ICIJ says.

The report shows that the accumulation of the wealth in offshore companies by the Kenyattas dates back to when the late President Moi was still in power.

Records show that in 2003, a Union Bancaire Privée lawyer Othmane Naïm asked Panama offshore specialists to help register a new foundation, to be known as the Varies Foundation.

“The foundation, like a trust, was designed to manage and shelter wealth for its beneficiaries. Draft bylaws, also from July 2003, name the foundation’s beneficiaries: Uhuru Kenyatta and his mother,” the report says.

Union Bancaire Privée also helped manage a foundation for Uhuru’s brother, Muhoho.

“Invoices from Alcogal in Panama to the bank show that the Swiss advisers referred to the Kenyattas with a code: “client 13173.”” ICIJ says in its report.