Politics and policy
By DAVID HERBLING, hdavid@ke.nationmedia.com
In Summary
- The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) says it will use the judgment delivered against the executives of the UK firm to bolster its investigations and charge the Kenyans alleged to have received bribes, codenamed ‘chicken.’
- The trial of two Smith & Ouzman directors in London brought to the fore how a Kenyan agent – Trevy James Oyombra – was used as a conveyor belt to issue bribes to IEBC officials so as to secure printing tenders for the UK-based firm.
The anti-graft agency will rely on evidence used in a
London court to convict executives of a British firm Smith and Ouzman
Ltd to pursue Kenyan beneficiaries of the company’s bribery schemes.
The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) on Tuesday
said it will use the judgment delivered against the executives of the UK
firm to bolster its investigations and charge the Kenyans alleged to
have received bribes, codenamed ‘chicken.’
Smith and Ouzman Ltd paid bribes to officials of
the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) and Kenya
National Examination Council to secure contracts.
“We had dispatched a team of three investigators to
sit in the proceedings in London. We will use the judgment and entire
proceedings materials to deal with the local suspects,” said Yassin
Amaro, the spokesman at EACC.
“The judgment is a big plus to our investigations. We will not spare anybody,” said Mr Amaro in a phone interview with the Business Daily.
Several public officials have been accused of being
at the centre of the scandal, including Energy and Petroleum minister
Davis Chirchir, former IEBC vice chair James Oswago, former Judiciary
chief registrar Gladys Sholei and former Knec boss Paul Wasanga, among
others.
The trial of two Smith & Ouzman directors in
London brought to the fore how a Kenyan agent – Trevy James Oyombra –
was used as a conveyor belt to issue bribes to IEBC officials so as to
secure printing tenders for the UK-based firm.
The “chicken” would be sent to Mr Oyombra as part
of his commission and he would in turn give a slice of the funds to IIEC
officials.
Judge Daniel Pearce-Higgins and the 11-member jury
said the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) had presented enough evidence to
prove their case and the court will issue the sentence in February 12,
2015.
“This is the SFO’s first conviction of a corporate
for offences involving bribery of foreign public officials,” said David
Green, director of SFO.
“Such criminality whether involving companies large
or small severely damages the UK’s commercial reputation and feeds
corrupt governance in the developing world.”
Mr Smith and his son Nick now face up to seven
years in jail for paying out bribes totalling Sh50 million to facilitate
the family-run business win printing tenders at IIEC and Knec.
“This has been a difficult four years for the
company. Because sentencing is still pending it is not appropriate to
make any further comment. Our focus now is on continuing to deliver an
excellent service to our loyal customers,” S&O said in a statement
to the Business Daily.
The corrupt dealings, committed between June 2009
and December 2010, saw Kenyan electoral and examination officials pocket
millions of shillings from S&O by inflating costs by up to 38 per
cent to cater for the kickbacks.
No comments :
Post a Comment