Two witnesses have defended payments in a tender in a case where former Chief Registrar of the Judiciary Gladys Shollei is accused of abuse of office.
The witnesses, both accountants, narrated to the court the procurement decisions that informed a contract for the construction of pre-fabricated courts for the Judiciary.
Paul Ndolo and Samson Bett defended the 50 per cent down payment to the contractor, following up on earlier testimony by other witnesses that taxpayers would have lost up to Sh50 million had a tender for the construction of a court in Mavoko been cancelled.
They told the court what exactly happened from the selection of a contractor, details of the contract and decisions that were made before the contract was awarded.
Mr Ndolo and Mr Bett told the court they counter-checked documents, raised queries on what was not clear before appending signatures that the contractor should get 50 per cent down payment.
Among the documents they went through, the court heard, was a guarantee from CFC Bank that cushioned the Judiciary from loss in case anything went wrong with the deal.
Documents fact-check
“No loss would have been occasioned because there was a bank guarantee,” Mr Ndolo testified. “Money was not lost as the right procedure was followed.”
The case started on December 2015 when Shollei alongside former Deputy Chief Registrar Kakai Kissinger, Martin Okwata, Benedict Omollo, Wycliffe Ombunde, Nicholas Okemwa, Nicholas Mbeba and Thomas Atak were called to answer to abuse of office charges and loss of Judiciary money.
At the centre of the case are pre-fabricated courts in Tawa, Mavoko and Garsen of which the State claimed the accused favoured timber firm Tim Sales Ltd to clinch the deal and it allegedly led to loss of public money.
In addition, the State claimed they went ahead to vary the down payment for the contractor to get 50 per cent instead of 10 per cent. The case prosecuted by the State unveiled the process under which bidding and selection was done, the contract agreement and decisions which were made.
The prosecution opened its case with three witnesses, all who were members of the Judiciary committee that opened the tenders for construction of the court buildings.
Onesmus Nzomo, a senior supply chain manager at the National Treasury, Bridgit Chepkemoi, an executive officer in Nakuru and Lynette Mwangi were also questioned.
Ms Chepkemoi said the tender evaluation committee met on November 19, 2012 and wrote a report indicating 13 bidders had responded to the tender and indicated their prices.
The evaluation committee, Senior Principle Magistrate Liz Gicheha heard, indicated Timsales and Economic Housing Group be taken to the next stage of financial evaluation.
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The witness said it was recommended that lot one of the courts (Bomet, Tum and Eldama Ravine) and lot two (Othaya, Marimanti, Runyenjes and Wang’uru) be awarded to EHG Ltd while lot three (Tawa, Mavoko and Garsen) be awarded to Timsales.
This was after it emerged the two companies emerged the best in terms of pricing and bidding qualifications. She said materials that were to be used to build the court in Mavoko were taken to Runyenjes after it emerged the land was under dispute.
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