A state-of-the-art Range Rover linked to retired President Moi that was stolen from the CMC showroom four years ago was recovered yesterday when aides of Regional Development and acting Local Government minister Fred Gumo booked it in for service. According to multiple sources at the troubled listed motor dealer, the aides have several times in the past delivered the car to the company's garage for service.
However, the car would be brought bearing different number plates every time time it was booked in for service. Yesterday we established that the aides operated in cahoots with some CMC employees, who covered for them and failed to alert the management every time the car was booked for service. The sources said the car has been serviced at the CMC garage three times since 2010.
However, oblivious that the suspected corrupt staff members had been sacked some days ago, Gumo's aides check in the car this time bearing the registration number plate KBQ 455S. The new staff instantly got feedback from the company's automated system that the car was the one that had disappeared from the garage in 2008. The insurance sticker on the Range Rover had been issued to a vehicle with registration number KBJ 124D.
The insurance sticker was issued by Monarch Insurance Company on November 16, 2011 and expires on November 15, 2012. CMC Group Chief Executive Officer Bill Lay confirmed that CMC had impounded the car after diagnostic inspection by the company revealed that it was stolen from the company in 2008. It was then that the mechanics informed managers who yesterday called in police and their insurers.
In a statement sent by a public relations company on behalf of CMC, Lay said vehicle was similar to the one imported for the retired president. "The vehicle Range Rover model we have impounded today has details that closely match a top of range customised motor vehicle that went missing from our workshop in 2008," said Lay.
Sources said the car was discovered to be the stolen vehicle after mechanics inputed into a computer a series of numbers printed on the vehicle's windscreen and the computer generated a "stolen car" message. According to sources, CMC recently installed a system that stores data and history of all vehicles serviced at the garage. This makes it easy for the company to keep and retrieve the history of a car from its system.
Sources said the vehicle was brought to the garage for service on Thursday by Gumo's aide after it developed ignition problems. Yesterday, we failed to reach the minister on his cellphone as it was turned off. When we tried to reach Gumo at the hotel in Mombasa where MPs were having a retreat, we were informed he had left.
Head of the police flying squad Munga Nyale, top CMC managers and insurers were yesterday evening locked in a meeting to discuss the development. The Star broke the story on November 18, 2008, when thieves broke into the supervisor's office at the CMC garage where the key was kept and drove away with the grass green Range Rover. Then, the thieves also tampered with the registration documents to hoodwink the police if they were stopped.
Moi had placed an order for the car, fitted with state-of-the-art tracking system, but had yet to take possession of it. The vehicle, which had yet to be fixed with the new registration number plates, had been taken for a pre-inspection test drive just hours before it was stolen. Later, Moi issued a statement stating that the car did not belong to him. "What is true is that Mzee has ordered a Range Rover from CMC but none has been delivered to him," stated his spokesman Lee Njiru in a statement.
CMC later had six members of staff including a senior sales and marketing executive charged for the theft of the car. When the sleek vehicle was stolen from CMC's Industrial Area premises in 2008, the then chief executive of the company, Martin Forster, filed a compensation claim with APA Insurance. Ashok Shah, the chief executive of the insurance firm and a board member of CMC, refused to pay the Sh18 million claim for the luxurious sports utility car.
An angry Forster promptly cancelled the insurance contract that had existed between APA and CMC for nearly two decades. The incident destroyed the previously cordial relationship between Shah and Forster. Months later, the board demanded a clean-up of CMC's bank reconciliation accounts that culminated in the sacking of Shashi Shah, the group finance director, who apparently had the backing of Ashok Shah. This, to Forster, marked the breaking point of the cordial relationship between him and Ashok Shah, who allegedly declared a boardroom war against the chief executive.