The National Assembly has begun an inquiry into the Sh6.14 billion withdrawn four days before last year’s general elections to buy out private equity firm Helios from Telkom Kenya.
The National Assembly’s Finance and National Planning says the investigation seeks to establish if the law was followed in the withdrawal of the money under Article 223 of the Constitution.
The committee has also trained its guns on top Treasury officials who approved the withdrawal of billions of shillings from the Consolidated Fund to facilitate the exit of Helios Investment Partners from Telkom Kenya.
The Constitution allows the Treasury to spend money that has not been appropriated by Parliament and seek regularisation within two months after the first withdrawal of the money.
“We will commence an inquiry next week (this week) to ascertain how the disbursement was approved, effected, used, and whether the necessary conditions for such disbursement as provided under Article 223 of the Constitution and subsidiary laws were followed,” Kuria Kimani who chairs the committee said.
Mr Kimani said they will also be seeking to get information on when Jamhuri Holding Limited was incorporated in Kenya and its shareholding.
The committee is also keen to find out when Helios Investment Partners, through Jamhuri Holding Limited (JHL), became a shareholder in Telkom Kenya and what was the existing value of the shareholding.
The committee will also seek to establish the regulatory and statutory approval granted by the Communication Authority of Kenya (CA) and Capital Markets Authority (CMA) for the acquisition of Telkom shares by Jamhuri Holding Limited.
