Dr Richard Leakey, the internationally respected figure charged with cleaning up government corruption in Kenya, has become embroiled in scandal following revelations that he intervened to save top Dutch bank officials from prosecution on fraud charges.
Former officials of ABN Amro, the largest bank in the Netherlands, were on trial last August for allegedly defrauding an elderly colonial administrator and his wife of £2 million when Dr Leakey intervened.
The bank inquiry was "causing strain on our bilateral relations with the Netherlands," he wrote in a letter to the Attorney General, Mr Amos Wako, a former UN torture rapporteur. It was in the "national interest" to terminate the proceedings.
Six days later Mr Wako - who had earlier recommended a full prosecution of ABN Amro - dropped all charges and the trial collapsed. An investigation into current bank employees, at least four of whom police also intended to arrest and charge, was also quashed.
The allegations are embarrassing for Dr Leakey, the white Kenyan whom international donors see as their greatest hope for reforming Kenya's notoriously corrupt government.
Dr Leakey is a long-time friend of the Dutch royal family, and has taken holidays with Prince Bernhard several times over the last 20 years.
A spokesman for the Dutch embassy in Nairobi, which last year cut aid to Kenya in protest at corrupt governance, confirmed the ambassador had contacted "regular government counterparts" regarding the ABN case. "But we did not take a stand," he said.
The victims of the alleged fraud are a former British colonial officer, Mr John Nottingham (73) and his Kenyan wife, Muthoni. They had a thriving business exporting freshly cut carnations to Europe, Japan and the US until 1997 when ABN Amro seized the 175-acre farm.
The bank claimed the farm was security for a £2 million loan the Nottinghams had defaulted on. However, a subsequent police investigation alleged the couple were victims of an elaborate fraud orchestrated by the then ABN Amro manager, Mr Willem Lemstra, in collusion with local Dutch businessman Mr Bernard Martens.
A confidential report by the highly regarded Banking Fraud Investigation Department, and seen by The Irish Times, found that "at all material times the bank and its officials in collaboration with Martens acted with a common intention of defrauding [the Nottinghams]".
A spokesman for ABN Amro refused to comment on Dr Leakey's letter but said the bank had "fully co-operated with the investigation".
Last January the bank returned the farm to the Nottingham family in a state of advanced dilapidation. Waist-high weeds have replaced the neat rows of carnations, the polythene roof coverings have been stolen and the soil is infected with a fungus deadly to flowers.