A supplier has written to Vihiga Governor Wilber Ottichilo seeking information on an individual who used his personal details to pay more than Sh500,000.
Joseph Ombasyi, through Shitsama Advocates, wants the county to reveal the identity of the person who raised a fake invoice under his name and KRA Pin to claim payment amounting to Sh543,982 from the government in June 2017.
Ombasyi learnt of the transaction after the taxman notified him to pay tax that had accrued interest amounting to Sh146,287 in relation to the transaction.
“As much as our client has been in your list of suppliers of materials and services between January and December 2017, he has not supplied or rendered any services to your county government,” the letter dated June 14 reads.
The letter demanded the county government settle the VAT arrears and any accruing interest and penalties to KRA. Ombasyi wants the government to admit liability for wrongful use of his particulars and pay him for damages.
The county is said to have paid six per cent withholding tax to the taxman and skipped VAT, triggering KRA into action that brought the dubious deal to the fore.
The current disclosure could shed some light on how tender payments may have been manipulated by the former administration leading to the loss of hundreds of millions meant to pay genuine contractors.
Officials from the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission have been camping at Vihiga county for the better part of last year over a suspected fraud involving tenders.
The sleuths carted away all tender files from the county government so contractors could be cleared first before being paid their delayed arrears.
Earlier investigations by the EACC revealed that county officials created dummy companies using names of those that rendered services and paid themselves instead of the real contractors.
Edited by R.Wamochie
