DPP, graft team push for Ndung’u arrest

The Director of Public Prosecutions and the anti-corruption commission have been pushing for the arrest and prosecution of Central Bank Governor Njuguna Ndung’u.

Prof Ndung’u has been accused of failing to appeal against an irregular award of Sh1.2 billion tender to Horsebridge Networks Systems (E.A) Ltd for the installation of a security management system at CBK headquarters and its branches.

The contract was reportedly Sh400 million above budget.

Senior officials at the DPP’s office and the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) have filed papers at the High Court explaining why Prof Ndung’u should be arrested and charged with abuse of office.

In February, Prof Ndung’u got a reprieve when a High Court judge gave orders preventing his arrest and prosecution over the loss of Sh400 million, pending the hearing and determination of a petition he had filed.

Prof Ndung’u wants the anti-corruption commission, the DPP, the Inspector General of the National Police Service and the Attorney General barred from arresting or charging him with any corruption offences.

His intended arrest was made public while he was away in Paris, France, representing Kenya at a meeting on how to combat money laundering and the financing of terrorism.

The meeting was crucial to whether Kenya would remain in or be removed from the Dark Grey List which determines which banks should be blacklisted for abetting the two crimes.

According to Mr Alex Kinyanjui, an investigator with the anti-corruption commission, EACC received a report last month indicating that the CBK had irregularly awarded a tender for installation of an integrated security management system which was to cost Sh1.2 billion. Further, the DPP wrote to the EACC requesting it to investigate the matter.

Investigations revealed that the tender relating to the delivery, installation, testing and commissioning of the system was terminated by the tender committee on September 26. During the evaluation of the tenders, Horsebridge Networks Systems (E.A) Ltd, which was one of the bidders, sought a review before the Public Procurement Administrative Review Board, challenging the decision of the tender committee in the evaluation process.

The investigating officer said that Prof Ndung’u, while aware that the tender had been terminated by the CBK tender committee, wilfully failed to communicate the information to the Public Procurement Appeals Review Board (PPARB). He also knowingly ignored legal advice from the in-house lawyer and the counsel engaged by the CBK recommending an appeal against the decision of the PPARB.

“It was upon conclusion of the investigations that EACC prepared and forwarded its recommendations to the office of the DPP who upon evaluating the evidence, agreed that Prof Ndung’u should be charged,” said Mr Kinyanjui in court papers filed last month.

A senior principal prosecution counsel in the office of the DPP, Mr Daniel Ithatwa Karuri, also said that the report received from the EACC had recommended that Prof Ndung’u be charged with wilful failure to comply with the law relating to procurement and attempting to commit an offence involving corruption.

He said the benefit now accruing to Horsebridge Networks Systems (E.A) Ltd was conferred upon it by the wilful and deliberate refusal by Prof Ndung’u to accept the unanimous and well-reasoned advice given to him by CBK external lawyers, CBK’s own legal service division and by other officials of the bank including the Deputy Governor.

Prof Ndung’u however defended himself saying that there was no evidence to indicate that he disregarded the opinion of the bank’s in-house and external lawyers or to show that he failed to comply with or broke any of the procurement rules.

“There is also no law that a chief executive must comply with ‘opinions’ as opinions remain opinions,” said Prof Ndung’u in his court papers.

He said PPARB awarded the tender to Horsebridge Networks Systems (E.A) and that the bank did not suffer any loss because the company had been the lowest tenderer and was technically qualified.

The case will be heard on May 14, 2014.