Kroll Associates

Kenyans do not seem to know a lot about Kroll Associates, the company retained to find Kenya’s looted billions.

Kroll Associates is the world’s foremost independent risk consulting company [in their own words] and they live up to the hype. To put it simply these are the big boys of risk consultancy and corporate investigation both worldwide and in Africa. For example, many, If not all, FTSE 100 companies will ask Kroll to investigate fully the background of anyone they intend to offer a place on their board or in senior management. “Have you Krolled him/her?” appointment managers are normally asked meaning have you asked Kroll to do a background check on him/her.

Kroll was founded in 1972 by the New York lawyer Jules B Kroll. Today it has offices in 60 countries, employs 2,500 people and is listed on the Nasdaq as worth an estimated $200m [GBP110m]. One of its largest offices is in London’s Savile Row, from where the company’s work in Europe, Africa and the Middle East is conducted

How did they find Kenya’s looted billions so quickly? Experience. These guys found former Philippines president Ferdinand Marcos secret fortune, they found the money stolen by Haitian dictator Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier, they found Saddam Hussein’s secret bank accounts, they are the ones that have been uncovering Osama bin Laden’s secret bank accounts which are being used to fund the Al-Qaida network.

Whatever they told Githongo was explosive. That is my theory behind why he resigned.

Check out Kroll’s Africa Practice website. Kroll’s African division is responsible for The Africa Risk Monitor a publication that comes out every two weeks. You can read it on their website or get it sent to your email for free [subscription required].

This Guardian article from back in the day has some more information.