UK opens assets seizure suit in Chickengate case

Smith & Ouzman, the London-based security printer convicted of bribing Kenyan election and examination officials, returns to court Monday for sentencing even as the Kenyan authorities remained tight-lipped on the fate of local officials implicated in the scam.

UK authorities said the court appearance also marks the start of proceedings to seize the company’s assets that are now seen as proceeds of crime.

The asset seizure effort has been expanded to include properties owned by S&O chairman Christopher John Smith and his son Nicholas Charles Smith (who served as S&O’s sales and marketing director). The Serious Fraud Office (SFO), the UK’s anti-graft agency, which is prosecuting the bribery case, said assets owned by S&O and the disgraced directors “are currently being investigated.”

“Both the company and individuals face confiscation proceedings,” an SFO spokesman told the Business Daily in an interview.

John Smith and his son Nicholas were in February sentenced to jail after they were found guilty of paying out bribes code-named “chicken” totalling Sh50 million to help the family-run business win printing tenders at the defunct Interim Independent Electoral Commission (IIEC) and the Kenya National Examinations Council (Knec).

Prosecutors will get a chance to offer a blow-by-blow account of how Smith & Ouzman as well as its directors benefitted financially from the tenders it won through the backdoor at the IIEC and Knec.

It is on this basis that the SFO will ask the court to forfeit their assets, which will be surrendered to the British Exchequer as provided for by the Proceeds of Crime Act (2002).

“The SFO has a dedicated Proceeds of Crime division that investigates such matters, looking at a defendant’s assets, both financial and other, and also at how they might have endeavoured to hide their ill-gotten gains,” the agency said.

READ: UK court exposes corruption ring at Kenya poll agency

Smith & Ouzman faces a confiscation order of about £1.04 million (Sh164 million) – three times the value of the £349,057.39 (Sh55 million) total bribes paid to Kenyan officials – going by past precedent on asset seizure.

A London court in May gave a confiscation order of £12 million (Sh1.9 billion) against convicted venture capital fraudster Edward Davenport who defrauded the public a total of £4 million (Sh632 million) in an elaborate con scheme.

The renewed efforts by the UK to bring its citizens to book by separately attaching the assets of both S&O and its disgraced executives comes amid a laissez-faire approach by Kenyan authorities to nail the local suspects who feasted on the “chicken.”

The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC), Directorate of Criminal Investigation, and the Director of Public Prosecutions have nothing to show on the “chickengate” scandal nearly a year after a London court established that indeed bribes were paid to Kenyan officials.

EACC chief executive Halakhe Waqo and his deputy Michael Mubea declined to update the Business Daily on the status of investigations.

Mr Waqo and his Mr Mubea are due to be vetted afresh to gauge their suitability to hold office, under a new Bill signed into law by President Uhuru Kenyatta last month.

S&O local agent Trevy James Oyombra was the conduit through which the London-based firm would make the bribery payments.

Mr Oyombra would in turn discreetly wire the bribes to electoral officials’ bank accounts, the Crown Court was told during the hearing of the case.

Top on the list of those who received bribes from Smith & Ouzman included Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission chairman Issack Hassan, suspended Energy secretary Davis Chirchir (former commissioner at IIEC) and former Knec boss Paul Wasanga, according to court filings.

Kenya’s anti-graft agency in February grilled Messrs Hassan, Chirchir and Wasanga – but is yet to forward the files to the DPP for trial to commence.

Smith & Ouzman, founded in 1845, has an estimated annual revenue of Sh1.02 billion ($10 million) from its specialised printing business of security documents such as ballot papers, exam papers, and certificates.

S&O lists some of its top customers as the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), Knec and other government agencies.

Judge Daniel Pearce-Higgins on February 12 sentenced Nicholas Smith to three years in jail while his father, 72-year-old Christopher Smith was handed a suspended jail term of 18 months and 250 hours of community service.

Other members of the “chicken” gang include former Judiciary Registrar Gladys Boss Shollei (ex-deputy CEO at IIEC), lawyer Kennedy Nyakundi (ex-commissioner), Kenneth Karani (senior procurement officer), an unnamed finance director and former Electoral Commission of Kenya commissioner Joseph Khamis Dena.