One of the year's best performing bond markets, Kenya, suffered its worst day since November on Friday, as a multi-million dollar scandal building around its finance minister was compounded by a bad day for riskier assets globally. A broad-based fall left the country's longer-dated dollar-bonds that are usually favoured by international investors down almost 2 cents and more than any other African countries' bonds though many had also seen sizable falls.
Earlier this week, Kenyan police summoned Finance Minister Henry Rotich for questioning for a second time over a scandal involving advance payments for two dam projects in the country's Rift Valley. The chief prosecutor's office said on Friday that it was looking into contracts worth 65 billion Kenyan shillings ($653 million), around 21 billion which had allegedly been paid in advance.
They are seeking assistance from counterparts abroad to trace the movement of those funds, it added. Rotich has said all payments relating to the dam projects had been made in strict adherence to the law and in accordance with commercial and financing agreements.
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