• He asked MPs to take up the task of finding out who the signatories at the KCB bank are.
• The Jubilee vice chairman said the links to the tender – which Kemsa was forced to cancel after EACC stepped in - has made him a target for relatives seeking handouts.
Image: EZEKIEL AMING'A
Jubilee vice chairman David Murathe on Thursday denied benefiting from the Sh4 billion Kemsa tender awarded to Kilig Ltd.
The politician instead claimed the firm has two accounts at Equity and Kenya Commercial Bank and the latter has associates of Deputy President William Ruto as signatories.
Murathe, while before the Public Investments Committee of the National Assembly, said he has letters where KCB wrote to a Kilig lawyer indicating they were happy to finance the tender.
He said there was also a letter by Kemsa referring to the said account at KCB, further asking the committee to consider verifying his claims independently.
“It is incumbent upon this committee to find out who are the signatories to this account. You will find that the signatories are well-known business associates of the deputy president,” Murathe said.
The Jubilee vice chairman said the links to the tender – which Kemsa was forced to cancel after EACC stepped in – has made him a target for relatives seeking handouts.
"It is very sad when we allow this kind of innuendo and then you want to treat some of us as the poster boy of that kind of business.
“I have never supplied not even a single mask or PPE. It is so sad people think I am a Covid-19 millionaire and everybody who has a small problem is calling me for money," he said.
Murathe said if there were Covid millionaires, then it could be Wilbroad Gatei and other people who are partners of Ruto.
He said he provided the same information to the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission in September last year.
PIC chairman Abdulswamad Nassir said the committee would write to the bank to seek more information on the claims.
"These are Murathe's words. We will have to do our own fact-finding as a committee. We will write to KCB as well as Kemsa to give us their correspondences with Kilig," the Mvita MP said.
Last week, Murathe admitted that he was a bank guarantor for Kilig Ltd, which is among dozens of companies implicated in the Sh7.8 billion Kemsa scandal.
The politician had previously denied association with the firm and linked DP Ruto to the tender, a position he maintained on Thursday.
Kilig was awarded a Sh4 billion tender to supply 450,000 personal protective equipment kits (PPE) to the medical supplies authority, yet was not prequalified.
Murathe said he was requested by Kilig – then under the directorship of Wilbroad Gachoka and a Chinese national Zhu Jinping – to guarantee payments to a Chinese firm trading as ENTEC Ltd.
While before the committee on Thursday, Murathe said the associates of DP Ruto were represented by a lawyer known as Collins Bush Wanjala.
“When the company (Kilig) was issued with commitment letters, they were looking for financing, Collins Bush Wanjala represented the clients at the bank,” he said.
KCB on April 14, 2020, wrote to Kilig – to the attention of Wanjala, saying they were willing to provide letters of credit in favour of the Chinese supplier.
KCB cited an LPO from Kemsa to supply the PPE at $45 million and the companies’ good standing at the bank.
Image: EZEKIEL AMING'A
Gatei, when he separately appeared before the committee, said he resigned from the company six days after Kemsa issued Kilig with a commitment letter.
The businessman denied involvement with the deputy president, saying he negotiated with one Antony Gichuru – who is Wanjala’s client.
He had a hard time before MPs who said he was a proxy in the dealings with the said associates of the DP.
“I have no ties with the DP…I don’t have a business association with him…I don’t know what was said by other witnesses who appeared here,” Gatei said.
Murathe said he did not know the quantities Kilig was supplying, reiterating that he gave ENTEC his assurance that Kemsa will pay.
But MPs said that despite Kemsa cancelling the tender, there was a chance they could lodge claim having supplied samples worth Sh9 million.
They expressed discontent with Murathe’s explanation saying there was no way one would engage in a tender of that magnitude without any benefit.
Gatei said he resigned after experiencing difficulties in raising cash to finance the tender.
MPs, however, questioned why he made the move, yet the company had just received a lucrative deal.
Lawmakers cited contradictions in Gatei’s submissions with the issues he penned in an affidavit he had presented to the committee.
The question MPs on the committee are grappling with is who gave instructions to Ivy Minyow- the current director, to take the company from Bush Wanjala.
Gatei said Ivy was nominated to issue professional undertakings and ensure the stakes for future stakeholders were safeguarded.
He said they sold the company because he could not raise money to import the 450,000 kits. “It is a liability if you don’t perform.”
“You are clearly a proxy. You still have dealings with Kilig. How did you re-enter after resignation?” Ruaraka MP T J Kajwang’ said.
“There is an allegation which has come out there. Someone has said you are a known business partner of the DP.”
Nassir said, “He has contradicted himself. What he has sworn and what he says are totally different. Is he holding it for someone?”
Edited by A.N