Kenya's foreign affairs minister and another top official in his department stepped aside under pressure today to give investigators room to look into a scandal over the purchase of embassy buildings.
Four high-profile officials have now come under fire over corruption accusations this week in a sign president Mwai Kibaki's government is stepping up its long-promised war against the graft that has blighted east Africa's biggest economy.
Foreign minister Moses Wetangula and his permanent secretary Thuita Mwangi have been under public and media pressure since a parliamentary committee recommended they quit and stand trial for authorising payment for new embassies at inflated prices.
Both voluntarily relinquished their duties and Mr Wetangula said he was confident any investigation would exonerate him from wrongdoing. A parliamentary vote on whether to adopt the report was still due to take place later today.
Mr Kibaki came to power in 2002 on an anti-graft platform, but his record on fighting corruption has failed to impress critics and Kenyan media have been replete with numerous scandals.
No minister has been convicted of graft in Kenya, where sleaze has spread from politicians, to civil servants, private business and ordinary Kenyans who part with smalls sums of money for favours in government offices.
Mr Kibaki said today that corruption by public servants would no longer be tolerated.
"It is high time people changed attitude and became satisfied with their rightful salaries and wages instead of misappropriating public funds," he said in a statement.
"All relevant government departments have been instructed to speedily conclude any pending cases of corruption," he said.
Kenyan media have cast the embassy case as yet another scandal involving top government officials in a country where corruption is viewed as endemic, and one of the most pressing concerns choking investment in east Africa's biggest economy.
The Parliamentary Committee on Defence and Foreign Relations report says Kenya lost $14 million in a deal to buy a new embassy in Japan.
It also says Kenya lost money on deals to buy embassies in Egypt, Nigeria, Pakistan and Belgium.
Wetangula's department did not hire professional property agents or lawyers, and there was no proper valuation of the property in Japan, the report states.
"I am absolutely clear that I have played no role in the formulation, execution or in any matter in the transactions that are being talked about," Mr Wetangula told a news conference.
"I have made a personal decision to step aside from my responsibilities ... to give room to the able arms of the investigation to carry out investigations," he said.
The investigation comes in a week that has seen a number of high-profile government officials taken to court over scams.
The head of the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission last week said he would go after the "big fish" behind major corruption scandals, citing new powers granted by the new constitution.
Suspended higher education minister William Ruto appeared in the High Court yesterday and will face fraud charges over a land deal in late January next year. Mr Kibaki removed him from the cabinet last week to stand trial.
The mayor of Nairobi, Geophrey Majiwa, was also charged with corruption in the same court as Ruto over the fraudulent purchase of land near Nairobi to serve as a new cemetery for the Kenyan capital.
Reuters