A row has erupted between the Kenyan government and Arusha-based International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) over the arrest and tracking of property belonging to Rwandan fugitive, Falicien Kabuga.
Attorney General Amos Wako has written a protest letter to ICTR Chief Prosecutor Hassan Jallow, regarding insinuations that Kenya "has not done anything to arrest and transfer Kabuga to the tribunal."
In a letter addressed to Jallow on June 20 and seen here on Wednesday, Wako termed the accusations by Senior Trial Prosecutor Richard Karegesya as grossly unfair, unwarranted and undiplomatic.
Karegesya wrote a letter on May 22 to Director of Public Prosecutions Keriako Tobiko describing the steps taken by the Kenyan government in relation with Kabuga as 'too little too late and falls far short of implementing the full range of recommendations of the Joint Task Force".
"The steps undertaken by your government in implementing our request has come too little too late and falls far short of implementing the full range of recommendations of the Joint Taskforce," Karegesya said.
Wako has copied the protest letter to the president of the tribunal, Judge Dennis Byron, and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
Karegyesa claims the government has done nothing on the assets, companies and bank accounts identified by the task force as being associated with Kabuga, nor has it arrested and transferred him to the tribunal.
Wako wrote to Jallow saying that he would seek audience with Byron and the United Nations Security Council to put records straight.
"It is clear that the accusations contained in Karegyesa's aforementioned letter are grossly unfair, unwarranted and utterly without basis. Furthermore, I find the language used by Karegyesa undiplomatic, disrespectful and intemperate," Wako said.
The attorney general termed the move to freeze Kabuga's assets in Nairobi as "a significant achievement for which credit was due".
"Kabuga's property in Nairobi was frozen early May, and this is a bold move because 'there lacks express legal provisions in the country's jurisprudence on the subject," said Wako. "I am indeed gratified to note that the government of Rwanda itself appreciates these efforts."
"Concrete steps have been undertaken and continue to be undertaken by the Kenyan government to the full implementation of the recommendation in the third report, including bringing on board the Kenya Revenue Authority, who have embarked on the investigations on the properties and bank accounts of the individuals and entities associated with Kabuga, for the purpose of recovering unpaid or evaded taxes," he said.
Wako noted that Kenya has "cooperated and worked closely" with the tribunal in the arrest and surrender of all the indictees, and in the relocation, protection and facilitation of crucial witnesses.
These developments came against the backdrop of intensified efforts to apprehend the fugitive.
The Kenyan authorities last week arrested a man on suspicion of being Kabuga but later confirmed that it was a university don of Rwandan descent.
Police spokesman Eric Kiraithe said investigations had established that the suspected person is actually a Kenyan of Rwandese decent who has been pursuing his intellectual and professional pursuits legally.
The tribunal, which has been trying suspects linked to the 1994Rwanda genocide in Arusha, Tanzania, is under pressure to complete its work by December 2008 and all appeals by December 2010.
Kabuga is alleged to have been the main financial backer of the Hutu extremist militias who carried out the massacres.
Kenyan police have been circulating Kabuga's photographs and gave the names he is believed to have used in the past, namely, Faracean Kabuga, Idriss Sudi, Abachev Straton, Anathase Munyaruga and Oliver Rukundakuvuga.
Source:Xinhua
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