Former youth fund boss irregularly awarded Sh200m tender, fined Sh1m

Ex-Youth Fund CEO Juma Mwangala at a past court session [Courtesy]

A former chief executive officer of the Youth Enterprise Development Fund has been found guilty of abuse of office for irregularly awarding a Sh200 million tender.

Nairobi anti-corruption court magistrate Felix Kombo said the prosecution had proved beyond doubt that Juma Mwangala illegally awarded the tender to supply youths across the country with automated hatcheries and fined him Sh1 million. He will serve six months in jail if he fails to pay the fine.

“I find that the prosecution proved beyond doubt that the accused person did not comply with the procurement regulations. Being the accounting officer of the Youth Enterprise Fund, he improperly used his office to irregularly award the contract,” ruled Kombo.

According to the prosecution, Mwangala allegedly used his office to award Comnete Technologies Ltd the contract worth Sh208,530,000 to supply, deliver and install 1,050 hatching machines without the requisite approval of the corporation’s board.

Used influence

Mwangala used his influence to pay the supplier before advance payment bond was made to the fund.

The prosecution further told the court that the suspect abused his office upon execution of the contract on August 16, 2012, and that payment to Comnete Technologies was processed the same day and paid before the supplier provided the advance payment bond of 30 per cent as required.

As a result, the company was paid Sh62.5 million on the same day the contract was signed, which was four days before they provided the bond on August 20, 2012.

Mr Kombo, however, acquitted Mwangala on two other counts of engaging in a project without prior planning and failure to comply with the laws relating to management of public funds due to lack of sufficient evidence.

Investigations into the irregular award of the Sh200 million tender was conducted by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission.