Suspended Kenya Pipeline Managing Director Charles Tanui , Chief engineer Josphat Kipkoech Sirma and chief technical manager Elias Maina Karumi before the Nairobi Anti-corruption court where they were charged with abuse of office in awarding a Sh29 million contract for the installation of auto-transformers.
BY SAM ALFAN.
Suspended Kenya Pipeline Managing Director has been charged with abuse of office over allegations he inflated the cost of land the company was to acquire.
Charles Tanui was charged over the allegations on Thursday alongside the company’s Chief Engineer and two other KPC officials accused of making an irregular payment.
Engineer Josphat Sirma and Chief Technical Manager Elias Karumi have been charged with paying Redline Limited for the installation, testing and commissioning of auto-transformers, last year, on the basis of falsified documents.
The Kenya Pipeline Company Chief Engineer is accused of falsifying documents that showed the works were completed when they were not done.
“On or about January 30, 2014 within Nairobi being the Chief Engineer, Instrumentation and Control Section of Kenya Pipeline with intent to deceive made a false document, namely certificate of completion certifying that works for supply, installation and commissioning of Line 2 station auto-transformers (three in number) had been satisfactorily completed,” the charge sheet cites as the particulars of the offence Sirma is accused of committing.
Tanui is accused of authorizing the payment of Sh28.5 million to Redline without a formal contract and thereby “willfully” failing to comply with procurement law and abusing his office to confer a benefit on Redline.
The directors of Redline, identified as Ngatia Ndung’u, Ian Gichuhi and Judy Thuo in court documents, will be charged on November 30 for accepting payment for work they hadn’t done and thereby “fraudulently acquiring public property.
This is after Nairobi Anti-corruption Chief Magistrate Felix Kombo issued summons against them to appear in court in person on November 30 to plead to the charges preferred against them by the Anti-graft agency.
He released Tanui, Sirma and Karumi on a Sh20 million bond each with a surety of a similar amount with the alternative of paying Sh700, 000 in cash bail.
“I acknowledge that the accused have so far co-operated with the investigative authorities but I’m also aware that at the time the charges against them hadn’t yet crystallized,” Kombo said by explanation of the amounts set.
Ndung’u who was present in court but didn’t answer to any charges, was released on a Sh200, 000 temporary cash bail.
The commission demanded the approved budget, requisition, official search, advertisement, tender committee minutes, and valuation report and sale agreement for investigations.
The case will be mentioned on November 30 when other officials will plead to their charges.
