•Some of the make-believe items that the department purportedly wanted to secure are heavy artillery.
•A cautious Hussein declined to pay and instead invited auditors who unearthed massive rot
The fictitious Sh4.8 billion contract now threatening to bring down big names in government was flagged out by Correctional Services PS Zeinab Hussein.
The Star has established that Hussein, who was posted to the Ministry in July last year found a rotten department with billions of shillings in suspicious pending bills.
One of the dubious payments that the department was immediately required to wire to 10 suppliers was Sh4.8 billion for the procurement of classified security items.
The department of Correctional Services is domiciled in the Ministry of Interior, currently headed by Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiangi and oversees prisons.
A cautious Hussein declined to pay and instead invited auditors who unearthed massive rot that now threatens the career many senior officers including her predecessor Alfred Cheruiyot.
Cheruiyot, who signed the security contracts, is currently the PS of Post Training and Skills Development in the Ministry of Education.
“The matter should be reported to the investigating agencies so that the law can take due course as the procurement process was fraudulent and full of forgeries,” the audit report signed by Joseph Ndenge reads.
SUBMACHINE GUNS
Some of the make-believe items the department purportedly wanted to secure are heavy artillery, which is not meant for prison warders.
It includes submachine guns worth Sh478.5 million, full-bore target rifles worth Sh342.72 million and bulletproof vests and plastic helmets worth Sh2.2 billion.
These security items were never budgeted for.
“There was no budgetary provision for the classified security items. Tenders were awarded and contracts signed based on the strength of professional opinion that funds were available,” the audit noted.
The tendering process was not fair, open, and transparent and were pre-designed in favour of specific bidders, the audit concluded.
Two firms, Rapecc General Supplies and World One Agencies for instance had invalid pin certificates, tax compliance certificates and various forged local purchase orders.
Wold One Agencies was awarded tender for the supply of special stores amounting to Sh119 million while Rapecc was given a tender to supply assorted security items valued at Sh98 million.
The report reads that Ms Rapecc Supplies and M/s Auto Link System fraudulently won tenders of Sh98,750,000 and Sh44,600,000 respectively.
They were both awarded 45 and 44 points each for attaching coloured brochures, parts list and maintenance manuals. "However, perusals of original tender documents were found to have none of the above items,” the audit states.
Milways Enterprises, a firm associated with Jubilee nominated Senator Millicent Omanga, was the only firm evaluated and the audit indicates that the award was not fair.
After the release of the damming report, Hussein asked for advisory opinion from Solicitor General Ken Ogeto who gave a roadmap on how to cancel the tenders.
It was after the tender cancellation that the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission was invited to swing into action.
Apart from Cheruiyot, other persons of interest in the scandal are former PS Richard Ekai, veteran Provincial administrator Claire Omollo and Head of Supply Chain Mangiti Mieri.
Ekai, who was later moved to the Ministry of Sports, has been arraigned alongside his former boss Hassan Wario over the 2016 Rio scandal.
Omollo served as Secretary Administration in the ministry and was a member of the tender evaluation committee.
The others are James Mwalo Kodieny, Joseph Kamau Mwangi, Rose Nekesa Muturi, Sarah Kemunto Karandi and Benjamin Njoka.
The EACC has already sent their investigation file to the DPP Noordin Haji and is awaiting his nod to arrest the suspects.