Donor takes back Sh30m equipment after refusing to give out kickbacks

Dr Smita Devani (left), a Gastroenterology, is shown the latest endoscopy equipment by Dipen Rajani, Director of Asterisk Ltd, during a workshop on November 4, 2011. A donor has been forced to return medical equipment after he declined to give out kickbacks. FILE PHOTO | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • The donor, Mr Hans Frederik Dydensborg, an advocate of the Danish Supreme Court, flew out of Kenya on Friday after efforts to clear the container failed.

A 40-foot container containing medical equipment worth over Sh30 million will be returned to Sweden after its donor was asked to part with kickbacks of up to Sh2 million to have it cleared at the port of Mombasa.

The donor, Mr Hans Frederik Dydensborg, an advocate of the Danish Supreme Court, flew out of Kenya on Friday after efforts to clear the container failed.

The equipment, meant for rural hospitals in Kisumu, was sent from Stockholm, Sweden, in 2014 and was to be received by a foundation in Nairobi.

“I was always getting wrong information from the consignee and so I decided to come over personally. While in Nairobi, I discovered that the said foundation was a briefcase organisation owned by a prominent MP who tried to avoid me.

“Actually, he told me he was in Bahamas for a two-week business trip only for me to find him in Parliament.”

He said he realised that the consignee’s intention was to leave the container unclaimed at the port so that it would be put on auction, then buy it cheaply and thereafter sell it in the market.

Some items included endoscopy devices, a fundus camera, two x-ray developers, 363 disinfection scopes, eight washing and disinfection machines, a dexa scanner, 30 microscopes, a  paraplegic laboratory and 120 infusion single and triple pumps.

His efforts to re-direct the cargo to Mombasa County failed after medical staff showed no interest.

“I had the idea to re-direct the equipment to Mombasa County after the Kisumu plan flopped. I asked them to pay the tax of about Sh7 million which had been reduced by 50 per cent but I received no response,” he said before flying out.