UK to help in ‘chicken’ probe

The government has written to the UK’s Serious Fraud Office seeking more information to help in the prosecution of top officials of the election commission over tender irregularities.

This came as the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission confirmed it had sent a team to London, to get the information from the SFO’s investigations into bribery allegations by printing firm Smith & Ouzman to officials of the now defunct Interim Independent Electoral Commission (IIEC) and the Kenya National Examinations Council (Knec).

A top government source said that Attorney General Githu Muigai last week wrote to the SFO director David Green, requesting for reports on investigations, through the Mutual Legal Agreement (MLA), into claims that S&O directors gave kickback to IIEC — predecessor to the IEBC — and Knec officials through their local agents to land lucrative tenders.

“It is true that the AG, sometimes last week, wrote to the SFO asking for copies of files relating to investigations into the bribery allegations and witness statements that have been filed in court,” said a source.

Last month, SFO prosecutors filed documents in Southwark Crown Court which revealed that senior managers and commissioners in the defunct IIEC pocketed millions of shillings in bribes to award printing contracts to S&O over two years.

In a legal battle that has left in its wake one of the best documented cases of an international corruption network in Kenya’s history, the UK prosecutors have filed in court loads of written evidence implicating senior election officials in the corruption ring.

THE OFFICIALS

The officials include Energy minister Davis Chirchir, IEBC chairman Issack Hassan and the commission’s former chief executive officer James Oswago. They have since denied the allegations.

Court documents show that the Kenyan taxpayer paid dearly for the illicit dealings, putting to shame local prosecutors and the anti-corruption agency officials who are yet to nail anyone for the offences.

“The scale of the corruption alleged by the prosecution is worth £349,057.39 (Sh50 million),” prosecutor Mark Bryant-Heron says in documents filed in court.

Mr Trevy James Oyombra, a former electoral commission procurement officer, the documents revealed, was the S&O local agent who worked out the commissions for the IIEC officials.

Costs were inflated by up to 38 per cent mainly to cater for the kickbacks — commonly referred to in the mails as “chicken” — to senior election officials, the UK prosecutors say.