Prime minister Raila Odinga Tuesday chaired a Cabinet committee meeting which named a five-member team to investigate the controversial sale of Grand Regency Hotel.

The team to be headed by Attorney-General Amos Wako is expected to report its findings by Wednesday afternoon.

Their findings will be discussed during Thursday's Cabinet meeting to be chaired by President Kibaki. The President flew back in the country Tuesday after attending an African Union Heads of State meeting in Egypt.

"The Government is not taking this matter lightly. We shall definitely get to the bottom of it," Mr Odinga said after the three-hour meeting.

He asked wananchi to remain patient. "They should indeed not panic on the basis of the limited information, but wait for the full disclosure from the Government."

Mr Odinga reiterated that no one was indispensable, and the Government will not take lightly those involved in corruption.

But he urged ministers to always be raising their concerns in Cabinet meetings instead of doing so publicly. This, he said, will make the Government speak with one voice.

Members of the Wako committee include the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission director, Mr Justice Aaron Ringera, Metropolitan Development minister Mutula Kilonzo, Lands minister James Orengo and Mr Caroli Omondi of the Prime Minister's office.

Earlier in the day, MPs rooting for an opposition held a demonstration from Parliament Buildings to the Grand Regency Hotel where they called on Mr Kimunya to resign over his role in the controversial sale of the hotel to a Kenyan-registered Libyan company.

And during Tuesday's session of Parliament, MPs demanded that a motion to censure Finance minister Amos Kimunya be brought to the House. The House Business Committee will now allocate a day for the motion.

Meanwhile, fresh details about the company that bought the Grand Regency Hotel emerged Tuesday.

The sale agreement shows that land and the hotel building was sold for Sh1.8 billion ($30 million) on June 20. This is the amount that Mr Orengo gave at a Press conference.

However, an extra Sh1.1 billion ($15 million) was paid for plant and machinery, equipment, furniture, kitchen and furnishings. These brought the total to Sh2.9 billion which is the figure quoted by Mr Kimunya.

And according to records at Sheria House, the directors and shareholders of the company are listed as Mr Maalwal Mohamed Shtewi, Mr Ahmed Amaer and Libyan Arab Africa Company Ltd. Mr Shtewi is listed as Syrian while Mr Amaer is a Libyan.

It also emerged that Mr Kennedy Kaunda Abuga had been erroneously listed as a director of the Libyan firm in the documents released by Lands minister James Orengo on Monday.

Mr Abuga is the officer in charge of legal affairs at the Central Bank of Kenya. He signed the sale transaction on behalf of Central Bank of Kenya, which was selling the land to the Libyan firm.

Documents from the law firms acting on behalf of CBK and the Libyan company also showed that the Government received Sh2.9 billion from the sale of the hotel. They contradict an earlier claim by Mr Orengo that the hotel was sold for only Sh1.8 billion.

According to the documents released by Mr Orengo, Mr Abuga's PIN was shown as A0001243113T. However, according to KRA officials, the number does not exist as there can be no PIN number with 12 digits. All PINs have 11 digits.

Other documents from the registrar of companies show that Mr Shtewi and Mr Amaer each own a share in Libyan Arab African Investment Company (K) Limited. The mother company, Libyan Arab African Investment Company (Ltd) owns the other 998 shares.

And in Parliament, MPs suspended debate on a Motion earlier moved by Mr Kimunya on the Mombasa port. While shelving the debate, the MPs said that a motion to censure the minister should be tabled in the House first.

Official recalled

Ikolomani MP Bonny Khalwale also told the House that the Libyan embassy official who had on Monday said that his country was not involved in the sale had been summoned back to Tripoli.

And envoys from the European Union spoke for the first time saying they would await the outcome of Mr Odinga's committee meeting.

"It is clear that there is some uncertainty concerning the facts and circumstances surrounding the sale," a statement from the envoys said.

According to the PIN records at the Kenya Revenue Authority headquarters, Mr Amaer is the holder of Passport number 298071. His full names are Mr Amaer Ahmed from Zawiya in Syria.

But the PIN number on the documents given by Mr Orengo was A004240693L, which differs by one digit with that held by KRA. According to KRA's records, Mr Amaer's PIN is A00414693L. He is listed on the Internet as a member of the board of National Housing and Construction Company in Uganda through a joint trade partnership between Libya and Uganda.

The second director, whose passport number Mr Orengo gave as 001428 appears in the KRA records as Mr Maalwal Mohammed Shtewi from Tripoli, Libya. His PIN number is A004140679N, which is similar to that given by the minister.

His PIN records indicate that it was issued on August 9, last year.

Mr Shtewi is booked at the Grand Regency where he has been living for the last one month.

Both Mr Shtewi and Mr Amaer registered their PIN numbers with KRA at the same time on August 9, last year, two months after President Kibaki's visit to Libya in June. One of the agreements between Kenya and Libya at the time was that Tripoli would invest in the oil industry in Kenya.

Last Sunday, reports had indicated that the new owners of Grand Regency Hotel were to take over its management on Monday night. However, this did not happen.

The Grand Regency has been at the centre of controversy involving the Goldenberg scandal, which rocked the Kanu administration in the 1990s.

According to estimates, the public lost about Sh5.8 billion during the scandal through which the Government paid out the sums as export compensation to Mr Kamlesh Pattni for the export of non-existent gold and diamonds.

The hotel was built by Mr Pattni, who was described by the Bosire commission of inquiry as the Goldenberg 'architect'.

Early this year, Mr Pattni handed over the hotel to Central Bank under an agreement that also involved the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission. Under the deal, Central Bank was to drop civil cases against Mr Pattni regarding the ownership of the hotel.

However, the Attorney-General has since said that he was not involved in the negotiations and that the cases against Mr Pattni were still going on in court.

Reports by Mugo Njeru, Kenneth Ogosia, Samuel Kumba and Lucas Barasa