Ndung’u defends himself in Sh1bn corruption claim

Central Bank of Kenya governor Njuguna Ndung’u has defended himself against allegations of corruption in a Sh1.2 billion tender to install a modern security system at the institution.

In an email sent to senior CBK staff, Prof Ndung’u said the contract award was above board and appeared to accuse the institution’s tender committee of sabotage by rooting for losing bidders.

He said the crux of the matter was a tussle pitting CBK’s tender team against the evaluation committee.

Prof Ndung’u said Horsebridge Networks Systems East Africa Limited—which won the tender—was the lowest evaluated bidder and that he would not seek to reverse the decision.

The tender dispute went to the Public Procurement and Oversight Authority (PPOA) which awarded the contract to Horsebridge as the “lowest evaluated bidder”, he said.

“A reading of the two decisions made by the PPOA tribunal clearly shows that the tussle is between the bank evaluation and tender committees,” the CBK governor said.

“The tender committee ordered the inclusion of two bidders who had been disqualified by the evaluation committee. The two bidders failed even after re-evaluation,” he said, noting that PPOA faulted the tender committee’s orders.

Prof Ndung’u has come under pressure to challenge PPOA’s decision to award the tender to Horsebridge in court but he says the legal opinion on which this pressure is founded has not captured all the tender’s intrigues.

“An opinion was written. But we knew someone was going to try and change that opinion. So we waited. Just like night follows the day, the opinion changed. This I will deal with administratively,” he said without naming the saboteurs.

He said that crucial information was withheld by CBK staff during the first PPOA hearing including the fact that the tender had been terminated on September 26. Minutes were also presented showing that CBK signed a declaration that the tender was not terminated, dealing a blow to credibility of the bank’s records.

Meanwhile, Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission spokesman Yasin Amaro Tuesday said that they had received the file from the Director of Public Prosecutions office, with the consent to prosecute.

Mr Amaro said that the governor would appear in court over abuse of office arising from the award of tender of security software.

Officials from the EACC Tuesday failed to summon the governor and were told that he left the country on Sunday for Paris, France on official duties. However it was never indicated when he would be back.