Economy

Ethics body to nail ‘chicken’ suspects using UK evidence

DAVIS

Mr Davis Chirchir, the Energy secretary. PHOTO | FILE

The anti-graft agency will rely on evidence used in a London court to convict executives of a British firm Smith & 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 & 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, IEBC chairman Ahmed Issak Hassan, former chief executive James Oswago, former Judiciary chief registrar Gladys Shollei and former Knec boss Paul Wasanga, among others.

READ: How UK sleuths unearthed Kenya 'Chickengate' scandal

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.

Other personalities entangled in the “chicken” scam are lawyer Kennedy Nyaundi (commissioner), Kenneth Karani (senior procurement officer) and an unnamed finance director.

The Knec executives named in the investigation include deputy CEO Mwai Nyaga, Geoffrey Gitogo (ICT manager), Ephraim Wanderi (computer manager) and Michael Ndua, the principal supplies officer.

READ: Wasanga named in Sh0.7m annual kickback scheme

Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs) officials are also alleged to have received nearly Sh3 million in kickbacks to certify S&O printing works as having met the required quality.

“A Kebs officer from our standards department was involved in providing guidance on the quality standards of the ballot paper because Kebs facilitated the setting of IEBC (IIEC) standards on election materials,” said Charles Ongwae, managing director at Kebs.

Court papers show that the bribery payments were made through Mr Oyombra, the S&O Kenyan agent, who would discreetly wired bribes to IIEC and Knec officials through an account held at KCB.

Mr Oyombra’s bank accounts at Oriental Commercial Bank and KCB have since been frozen following a court order obtained by the anti-corruption watchdog to investigate his accounts.