British American Tobacco 'bribed' Kenyan politician Martha Karua

One of the UK’s biggest companies made secret political donations to a presidential candidate in Africa in a bid to block a rival firm winning a multimillion-pound contract. British American Tobacco (BAT) paid £50,000 to Kenyan politician Martha Karua, a former Justice Minister, to prevent a rival company supplying Kenya with technology to combat cigarette smuggling. In return for the donations, paid in cash via a middle man, BAT obtained key confidential Kenyan Revenue Authority (KRA) documents outlining the £100m five-year contract for new technology designed to stamp out tobacco smuggling. They then had the contract deliberately delayed while they secretly lobbied to get their own system chosen.

The secret donations were falsely listed in BAT accounts as payments for management fees or as expenses incurred in anti-smuggling operations. The serious allegations are contained in a dossier of BAT bribery and corruption claims passed to Britain’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) by Paul Hopkins, a company whistleblower who worked in Africa for BAT for 13 years.

Experts described Mr Hopkins as the most significant whistleblower from the tobacco industry since Jeffrey Wigand, the subject of the Oscar-nominated film The Insider starring Russell Crowe.

Mr Hopkins, responsible for stopping the illicit tobacco trade in East and Central Africa when BAT made him redundant, facilitated payments on BAT’s account to cripple anti-smoking laws in several East African countries, payments to officials to undermine the World Health Organisation’s efforts to reduce deaths from smoking, ran a corporate spying operation, and conducted “black ops” to put rival cigarette makers out of business. It is understood that the key meeting – at which Mr Hopkins and BAT’s senior regional legal officer, Naushad Ramoly, negotiated the deal with a key aide in Ms Karua’s election team – was filmed.

The Independent has seen emails between Mr Hopkins and Ms Mukindia’s campaign email address in which the KRA contract is openly discussed. The aide, Mary Mukindia, is now a member of the governing board of the Kenyan tax authority. Ms Mukindia’s legal representative confirmed she had attended the meeting but claims she did not know they were BAT employees. Ms Mukindia was “clear that in her then role that she could not have had useful access to Government officials nor have been able to obtain any contract specifications.” She said she was not aware “of any donations” BAT may have made. - The Independent, London