Witness in Kenya Power corruption case says transformers were forwarded for payment

A Kenya Power employee yesterday testified that due process was followed in the purchase of transformers that are at the centre of a fraud case targeting top managers.

Peter Kinaro Muchori, who was appearing before Senior Principle Magistrate Felix Kombo, said that Muwa Trading Company Ltd won the tender to supply the transformers on August 7, 2014.

Mr Muchori who is a supply chain officer at Kenya Power said the company delivered the first 352 transformers, each of 1,000kVA capacity, by March 2015.

He said the process of distributing the transformers to different Kenya Power users begun. Later, he was informed that the contact with Muwa Trading Ltd had been abruptly cancelled.

“I was informed through a memo from the Company Secretary Beatrice Meso that the tender had been cancelled for breach of contract,” said Muchori.

Stored transformers

He said by the time of the cancellation, only 19 transformers were still held in Kenya Power stores. The rest had been distributed.

He noted that the transformers are still packed in the stores to this day. Muchori said there was no faulty transformer that was received at the company's yard and paid for that he is aware of.

“When the transformers are certified by the inspection and acceptance committee, I feed their serial numbers in the system, and print a 'goods received' note which is attached to the delivery note,” Muchori told the court.

Muchori was testifying in the case where two former Chief Executive Officers - Ken Tarus and Ben Chumo - and other top managers are accused of purchasing faulty transformers.