According to court documents, among the beneficiaries of the said fraud were engineer George Nichodemus a member of the board who received from Erderman Kshs. 7,655,172.00 on May 2,2013 and Kshs. 4,750,000 on December 11, 2013.
BY SAM ALFAN.
Two directors of Edermann Property Limited, a company involved in the construction of Lake Basin Development Authority mall in Kisumu have been denied anticipatory bail by the High Court.
The court dismissed the application by the Managing Director Zeyun Yang and director Zhang Jing, after they rushed to court fearing their impending arrest.
“It is my finding that the the application is not merited and same is dismissed with no orders to costs”, the court ruled.
Justice John Onyiego said that the apprehension by the directors has been taken care of by the law. The Judge said any fear of possible illegal arrest where there is no evidence, is a matter of constitutional petition or judicial review but not application for anticipatory bail.
The two Chinese investors moved to the High Court Anti-Corruption court seeking to be admitted on anticipatory bail pending intended charges against them.
Zeyun and Zhang urged the court to release them on reasonable bail or bond terms, pending arrest and presentation for plea taking.
They argued that sometime in February 2013 , Lake Basin Development Authority advertised for a tender for the design and construction of mixed-use development in Kisumu Town which project included development of a hotel and mall complex and the company won the tender after competitive process.
They completed the project as per specification and a completion certificate was issued. Nobody, they added, questioned the manner in which the tender was awarded and its execution until sometime in 2015 when they were confronted by certain investigators.
They allege the investigators sought to know how the contract was awarded and varied facts they claim were beyond their control.
They expressed fear in the manner in which they have been harassed together with their staff by DCI and EACC officers while conducting investigations.
They made reference to a legal opinion allegedly given by the Attorney General on January 31, 2017 approving and giving the project a clean bill of health and that the Auditor General’s report dated January 24,2017 also gave approval to the project.
While replying to the case, EACC said that the anticipatory bail can be issued only when there is proof that one’s fundamental rights have been infringed or about to be infringed and not mere speculation.
According to court documents, among the beneficiaries of the said fraud were engineer George Nichodemus a member of the board who received from Erderman Kshs. 7,655,172.00 on May 2,2013 and Kshs. 4,750,000 on December 11, 2013.
They claim on the other hand, on May 2,2013, one Innocent Obiri received Kshs. 2,392,241 from Erderman yet he was contracted by LBDA.
The commission said the contractual sum was unlawfully inflated with the two directors company failing in crucial stages but was nevertheless awarded the contract after unduly influencing the board members.
EACC added that contrary to the two directors allegations that the project was passed by attorney general’s legal opinion dated December 5,2016 revealed several irregular in the award and execution of the tender (contract).
“Section 27 of the 2003 Public Procurement Act was violated and that they had proof that the cost of construction was inflated to take care of the gifts given to the board members by the Erderman Company interalia houses and money which induced the board to disregard necessary procument procedures”, EACC told the court.
