Graft-linked Safaricom chiefs to face Parliament committee

A parliamentary committee meets Thursday to draw up a schedule of when top Safaricom executives, suppliers and contractors will appear before lawmakers to shed light on allegations of multi-billion-shilling tendering irregularities at the listed telco.

National Assembly’s Finance, Planning and Trade committee chairman Benjamin Langat said members will draw up a calendar to summon all those named in a forensic audit by KPMG which tracked 23 questionable deals at Safaricom.

The parliamentary committee is racing to beat a 60-day deadline given by speaker Justin Muturi a fortnight ago to probe the dealings at Safaricom and report back to the House with findings and recommendations.

“We’re meeting on Thursday to draw up a schedule and then begin hearings,” said Mr Langat in an interview.

Michael Ngugi, a Nairobi-based businessman, has petitioned the National Assembly to investigate procurement-related scandals at Safaricom, where the Treasury directly holds a 35 per cent stake.

Safaricom is also 40 per cent owned by British telecoms operator Vodafone.

The House argues that while the issued raised can be dealt with by courts of law or the procurement watchdog, the Constitution charges lawmakers with a responsibility to guard public interest.

“Article 95(2) which provides that the National Assembly deliberates on and resolves issues of concern to the people, obligates the House to also attempt to address such matters, with a view to resolving them,” said Mr Muturi.

READ: Senior Safaricom executives named in billion shillings procurement scam

The KPMG report reviews dubious tenders at Safaricom dating from September 2013 to August 2015, cumulatively worth Sh289.4 billion.

Safaricom chief financial officer John Tombleson alongside four other senior executives are said to have influenced the purchase of a Sh1.15 billion five-acre piece of land at Garden City where the telco plans to build it headquarters.

The KPMG auditors also raised queries relating to payments worth Sh1.2 billion to seven firms to carry out marketing activations to promote Safaricom’s brand and products.

Other tenders probed by KPMG is the procurement of corporate promotional merchandise totalling Sh201 million from Vajas Manufacturers Ltd, Huawei’s $12.5 million contract to upgrade the M-Pesa platform, and payments amounting to Sh1.2 billion to Scanad, the creative arm of WPP Scangroup.

The list of other doubtful deals at Safaricom include contracting South Korean firm Kaon Media to supply set-top boxes ($1.6 million), My 1963 commuter card project with Fibre Space Ltd (Sh15 million), purchase of network spares management from GSM Systems ($2 million) and a billing system from Huawei costing Sh839 million, according to the KPMG report.