Anti-graft agency probes entry of overage vehicles

The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) is investigating the importation of overage motor vehicles into the country contrary to regulations.

EACC Spokesman Yasin Amaro said the commission is shocked by the continued disregard for the law on importation of used motor vehicles, which are being cleared by companies contracted by Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs).

Amoro said the anti-corruption watchdog had detained about 200 overage motor vehicles cleared by one of the firms contracted by Kebs to conduct inspection of vehicles destined for Kenya from Japan, the United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Singapore and South Africa.

The company is also accused of allowing the entry of three radiation contaminated vehicles, a move that exposes Kenyans to cancer. “We have been under pressure to release the cars but what remains is that the law must be followed. We cannot allow overage cars here.The cars will be destroyed soon,” he said.

“If they do not conform to the standards required, the best thing is to destroy them and this could be any time soon.”

Amaro said this even as Business Beat established that the trend of overage cars finding their way into the country still continues, as another car was impounded by the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) late last month. He said the commission has taken issue with the Japan Export Vehicle Inspection Company (Jevic) and their relationship with Kebs.

Year falsified

KRA nabbed a used Alfa Romeo car which had its year of manufacture falsified to be 2007, when in fact  the vehicle was manufactured in 2005.

In a letter to Mombasa Regional Kebs Manager Mr Njuguna from KRA’s customs services department, Kebs was informed of the overage car which had been cleared by Jevic.

It reads: “Please take not that the above Jevic certificate does not have date and year of manufacture and therefore it is difficult to determine the period before registration. However, upon verification and correct information, the subject motor vehicle was manufactured in 2005.”

By Friday evening last week, sources at the KRA Mombasa office told Business Beat the company was trying to have the car released. “There have been numerous calls for the car to be released from Kebs headquarters in Nairobi and also a former powerful Kebs employee,” said the source who sought anonymity.

A document in our possession shows a list of more than 115 motor vehicles that were impounded at the port of Mombasa with falsified years of manufacture.

The vehicles, it has been established, belong to well-connected individuals in Government. Some also belong to current and former Kebs officials. In August, Kebs said it had struck off the Japanese company from its roll of motor vehicle inspectors for allowing overage and defective vehicles into the country.

The national standards body warned Kenyans in a statement posted on its website that its contract with the Japan Export Vehicle Inspection Company has been terminated. “This is to notify all importers of motor vehicles into Kenya that the contract for motor vehicle inspection between Kebs and Japan Export Vehicle Inspection Center Company has been terminated in line with the current contract that expires on January 15, 2015. Please be advised,” the statement reads in part.

More complaints

Kebs Chairman Lucas Maitha said they took the decision after verifying more than 200 complaints raised against Jevic. Mr Maitha said the council made the decision after several months of investigations, adding, “We had to do investigations and this has been verified. Jevic failed to do the work we gave them and that is why we have terminated their services.”

Sources at Kebs said some of the contracted firms had not paid agency fees amounting to Sh11 million. The companies are required to pay an annual agency fee of Sh2.7 million. Efforts to get a comment on the subject from the new Kebs Chief Executive Charles Ngwee were futile as his secretary said he was out of office.

Two companies, Jevic and QISJ, had competed for the lucrative tender, but the management backtracked on the tendering committee’s decision that had declared QISJ the winner. The firm was later found to have failed to meet the conditions set out in the initial tendering process.

A board meeting on October 31, 2011 agreed that the tender be awarded to Quality Inspection Service of Japan, but the Kebs management at the time defied the orders and subsequently cancelled the tender on November 1.

The Public Procurement and Oversight Authority (PPOA) had said the tendering was flawed and needed to be repeated, but the ruling was ignored. PPOA had expressed concern over the awarding of marks by the evaluation committee and noted that the process was riddled with personal and political interests.

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