BY SAM ALFAN.
The trial against Former National Youth Service deputy director general Adan Harakhe and Devolution ministry senior secretary Hassan Noor and others over 47 million Shillings tender kicked off on Tuesday morning before Nairobi Anti-corruption court.
The prosecution in its opening remarks said that provision of training materials in respect to Automotive Engineering or specialized machines was not in the list of pre-qualified suppliers for various goods and services for the ministry of Devolution.
“This is a case of procurement irregularities, abuse of office and conspiracy against the officials of the Ministry of Devolution and planning in regard to the supply and delivery of training materials vide automotive engineering contact to Blue Star Enterprise by the National Youth Service, “said Joseph Riungu
Riungu further said that at the conclusion of the case the prosecution shall have proved that the accused violated the duty of trust and responsibility bestowed upon them by the law and created an avenue through which the state would have lots of millions through a tender and at the end of the case, the prosecution shall be praying that this court find the accused persons guilty and that the state has met its burden of proof.
“The prosecution shall be seeking to prove that the prerequisites that are conditional for the use of restricted tendering had not been met in this particular case,” court heard
State counsel Joseph Riungu said that the prosecution shall lead evidence to prove that M/S Blue Star Enterprises and one of the companies that was awarded the tender in question and the subject matter of this case was run by Betty Njoki Mureithi and Jenifer Muthoni Kinoti on the 17th and 18th accused persons.
The prosecution claims that the whole tendering process was rushed and the same lacked due diligence.
The prosecution said that it shall call evidence to proof that the said company which was registered in 1998 received over 45 million shillings on 24th September 2015 through its paramount Universal Bank Ltd account held at Koinange Branch Nairobi and jointly owned by the two accused persons, which account had only two cash deposits of shillings 2,000 each since its inception.
The court further heard that the local Purchase Order and the payment voucher was authorized by Adan Gedow Harakhe. In addition apart from signing the LPO and the Payment Voucher, prosecution argues that the applicant was also involved in proposing the agenda for consideration for discussion in the meetings of the Ministerial Tender Committee in respect to supply and delivery of equipment.
“M/S Blue Star Enterprises was not a pre-qualified supplier for goods and services for the Ministry of Devolution and Planning, state Department of Planning for the financial year 2014-2015 -2015-2016 for training material in Automotive Engineering,” claims Riungu
Anti-corruption magistrate Felix Kombo was told that M/S Blue Star Enterprises was not a specialized firm to supply training materials vides Automotive Engineering and had never supplied such type of equipment before and therefore should not have been selected or targeted for restricted tendering.
Trial magistrate was told that the bids were opened by the Tender Opening Committee on the 29thJanuary 2015 and that the ministerial Tender Committee sat again on the 30th January 2015 and discussed the supply and delivery of training materials in the Automotive Engineering Faculty and approved the awards of tenders.
The court was told that the tender Evaluation Committee was appointed on the 2nd February 2015.
It was Riungu’s opening remarks that the minutes of the Tender Evaluation Committee which are not dated nor signed, recommended awards to various bidders including M/S Bluestar Enterprises yet no technical evaluation was undertaken.
The court heard that the ministerial tender Committee had a duty to review the selection of procurement method and to ensure that the adoption of the other procurement is in accordance with the Act.
