Director of Public Prosecution Keriako Tobiko who wants Seven Government officials accused of failing to observe procurement laws and procedures that may have led to the loss of Sh11 million will undergo a further examination
BY THOMAS KARIUKI.
Seven Government officials accused of failing to observe procurement laws and procedures that may have led to the loss of Sh11 million will undergo a further examination.
The seven public officers will undergo a further defense hearing in May 2016 after the prosecution raised key concerns in the case.
The Officers are accused of failing to comply with procurement laws while awarding tenders for promotional materials on diverse dates between September 6 2010 and October 28 2010 at the Catering and Tourism Development Levy Trustees offices within Nairobi County.
Eden Odhiambo, Ruth Sande, Orego Fredrick, Joseph Ndungu, Flora Ngina, George Muya & George Machooka are jointly accused of carelessly failing to comply with the Public procurement and Disposal act, 2005 and 2006.
They procured t-shirts, diaries and calendars as members of Catering and Tourism Development Levy Trustees tender committee contrary to section 45(2) (b) as read with section 48 of the anti-corruption and economic crimes act no.3 of 2003.
Recently, Fredrick Orego appeared for his defense hearing but changed his testimony from a sworn statement to unsworn statement.
Prosecution led by Mr Moses Omirera objected to proceed with defense hearing for the 4th accused, Joseph Ndungu notifying the court that there was need for a third experts opinion for document examination on tender documents used during the procurement.
He explained to the court that there were two deferring opinions on who in particular signed procurement documents used as exhibits in the case.
Mr Omirera further notified the court that there were issues to do with impartiality where the accused sort their report after they were put on defense and only prepared a report following a court order.
They allegedly disregarded the threshold matrix in the first schedule of the Public Procurement and Disposal Act when awarding the procurement of promotional materials as persons concerned with the management of public property.
All seven officers denied the charges and were placed on defense hearing after the court established they had a case to answer.
The court has set the hearing for May 13 2016 for further defense. Meanwhile prosecution can present more concerns on related matters during a mention date to be communicated.
