My take FWIW after reading most of the two main threads (I say most because I’m sure that there have been several posts just while I write this):
It could be real, it could be a very good fake.
The crop of “proofs” that it is fake are mostly laughable.
Some unknown person posted the image on a web page with “fake” in the URL? So what.
EF Lavendar is also a soap? So what. My last name - and it is a rare one - is also a street in Germany. The name has a very odd un-namelike German meaning. Does that mean I’m not a real person? Also, hasn’t an EF Lavendar who worked in the Kenyan govt been identified?
The numerology stuff: Some of this gives me pause, but then again numerology types can find hidden meaning in any number. For example, who wants to find the hidden meaning in these (random) numbers: 4239821. This attack seems to have about the same credibility as the coincidence that one Hebrew translation of “lightning from the sky” (one of Jesus’s descriptions of Satan) is Barak-U-Bama or somesuch.
The “Republic of Kenya” stuff is a red herring based on an innacurate knowledge of Kenyan history, most of it probably based on the relevant Wiki entry about Kenya (which was accurate - I think - as far as it went but didn’t have the whole story).
What about all the trolls, which some cite as showing there must be something to this? Meaningless. Any FR thread with this many hits and this much exposure will draw tons of trolls.
The reality: It’s now before a court with a fairly good by-the-book judge. That’s the ONLY authentication that matters.
Just to emphasize my point about numerology: I googled that random number and got over 5,000 google hits http://www.google.com/search?client=ms-rim&hl=en&q=4239821&ie=UTF-8&channel=browser Topics range from a patent, DNA sequence, bras, Pablo Escobar (seriously), etc. And that’s just on the first page! So based on that number, I must be a female former associate of the Columbian drug cartel hiding in the carpet industry (witness protection program?) who has a genetic ailment...
The “Republic of Kenya” stuff is a red herring
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Not to mention the Republic of Kenya’s own 1963 Constitution, which declares itself a Republic.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2306755/posts?page=809#809