US Journalist Sheds Light On Report US Agency Is Investigating Uhuru Over KSh 420b Euro Bond

• Caleb Kositany published a screengrab of a purported Financial Times news article implicating Uhuru Kenyatta in a multi-billion shilling Euro Bind scandal
• According to the contents therein, the retired president was responsible for the transfer of a part of the bond proceeds to personal accounts, and a US agency was undertaking a probe
• However, the journalist whose byline was carried in the story disowned it, flagging the article as "a complete fake"

Former Soy MP Caleb Kositany has been put on the spot for using a fake news article to drive a narrative against retired president Uhuru Kenyatta.

Kositany, who currently chairs the Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) board, published on X a screengrab of a purported Finance Times story body headlined; "US Federal Reserve opens investigation on Kenya's 2014 $2.75 Billion Euro Bond".

Inside fake article implicating Uhuru in alleged Euro Bond fraud

The byline the article was attributed to belongs to Demetri Sevastopulo, a Financial Times correspondent based in the United States.

The contents of the article bearing Uhuru's portrait implied that part of the proceeds of the debt instrument issued in 2014 during the retired president's first tenure were diverted to personal accounts.

The story indicated that the "US Federal Bank of New York has opened an investigation", following supposed concerns from the US government after Uhuru allegedly masterminded the wiring of $117 million (equivalent to KSh 17.9 billion) from the JP Morgan account to that of his (Uhuru's) kin identified in the article as Magana.

Coming out to clear the air, Demetri denounced the writings, saying they were not his.

Caleb Kositany trolled by US journalist

He flagged them as "a complete fake", calling out Kositany for leveraging fake news for malicious gains.

The journalist clarified that he had never published any news story on any subject about Kenya.

"This is a complete fake. I did not write any story about Kenya," he said.

He would blast Kositany, questioning his competence at the KAA, given that he appeared to be easily carried away by fake news.

"Mr Kositany, I hope you are more careful about how you run your airports and you should be ashamed for spreading such," fired Demetri.

Euro Bond payment

President William Ruto has committed to settling the debt instrument whose payment falls due by the end of June 2024.

He had said a chunk of the money, $300 million (equivalent to KSh 45 billion), would be paid by the end of December 2023.

"Our efforts have yielded such progress that next month we will settle $300 million (KSh 45.96 billion) instalment of the $2 billion (KSh 306.4 billion) Eurobond debt that falls due next year," he said.

The load repayment is facilitated by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme of up to $650 million (KSh 99.6 billion).