Former roads minister in Sh14b Israeli graft probe

A vehicle ferries a water tank on the Mau Summit-Kericho-Kisumu Highway. The case implicates high-profile Kenyan officials. [File, Standard]

Top officials of an Israeli firm are facing jail time for bribing Kenyan officials to get a Sh14 billion roads tender.

Among key people implicated in the scandal are former roads minister and 19 top government officials who were recipients of the alleged bribes from Solel Boneh International Holdings (SBI Holdings), which built Mau Summit-Kericho-Kisumu Highway in 2010.

SBI is a subsidiary of Shikun & Binui whose officials have been accused of bribing a foreign civil servants, misrepresentation of corporate documents, conspiracy, disruption of legal proceedings, money laundering and misreporting to authorities between 2008 and 2016

“According to the evidence collected, in Kenya alone where the investigation focused ... bribes totalling tens of millions of shekels were transferred, generating projects and benefits worth hundreds of millions of shekels,” Police and the Israel Securities Authority (ISA) were quoted by Reuters.

According to Reuters, Israeli police and its securities regulator said they had sufficient evidence to proceed with a bribery case against Shikun & Binui, Israel’s largest construction group, its units and senior executives.

“During the investigation, which was made in conjunction with Kenya’s anti-corruption unit in Nairobi, 50 suspects were interrogated, including 19 public servants in Kenya,” said the Reuters report, which however remained silent whether or not the Kenyan listed in the bribe would attend the case.

Israeli Police and the ISA said they had completed the investigations and would send the results to the State prosecutor’s office in the coming days.

In July 2017, a former employee of the firm Mr Shay Skeif, who worked in Kenya, sued the company in Israel for benefits.

Although the case was dismissed, the worker had made allegations of bribery against the company which kicked off investigations into the firm.

In February last year, the World Bank opened investigations into the tender, including visits to the Kenyan offices.

“The audit procedure has begun, including the collection of evidence by the World Bank, inter alia, by way of a number of visits to the branch in Kenya to review materials and request additional materials,” Shikun & Binui said in its annual report.

Previously, the company has been probed by the World Bank Integrity department over projects in Guatemala, although a report has not been issued since 2016, according to Shikun & Binui.