Counties

EACC sues Isiolo officers over fire engine cost hike

EACC

Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission headquarters in Nairobi. FILE PHOTO | NMG

The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) has moved to court to recover Sh58 million from chief officers from Isiolo County government over the purchase of a fire engine, saying the price was inflated.

The anti-graft body says the acquisition of the fire engine from Drescoll Ltd was unlawful because it was at least double the market price and the company was awarded the tender yet it had no proof of previous work.

Court documents further state that despite promising to deliver a Sinotruk fire engine, Drescoll supplied a Turkish Iveco, whose market price stood at Sh25.5 million.

“The Plaintiff, therefore, avers that the contract sum of Sh58.56 million paid under the aforesaid contract constitutes proceeds of corruption or corrupt conduct which the Plaintiff is entitled to seek its recovery,” the court documents stated.

The EACC named the officials as Ali Godana Wako, John Thuranira, Mr Kennedy Macharia, Salad Sarite, Abdinasir Ali, Qanchora Roba, Jibril Hassan, Adan Salad, and Bashir Hassan.

They constitute members of the tender evaluation committee, head of supply chain, chief finance officer, head of Treasury, an accountant and the chief officer Public Works.

The anti-graft body also wants the company compelled to return the money or refund Sh33 million, which was in excess of what was paid for the fire engine.

The officials are accused of conducting financial evaluation before doing a technical evaluation and disqualifying bidders without good cause.

Six companies had submitted bids for the supply of the fire engine with the lowest bidder quoting Sh32 million.

Advance payment

The EACC says Drescoll allegedly falsified documents submitted in its bid document, claiming that it had supplied similar trucks to Samburu County government.

It accuses the officials of abuse of office for preparing payment vouchers for advance payment of 50 percent of the contract against the law.

According to the Commission, by making advance payment of Sh29 million to Drescoll, the officials abused their office by improperly conferring a benefit to the said company.

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