EACC seeks to recover over Sh78m from former KPA manager

EACC offices at Integrity Centre in Nairobi. [Elvis Ogina, Standard]

The anti-corruption commission is seeking to recover more than Sh78 million from a former Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) employee.

Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC), in the suit filed at the High Court, claims Anthony Muhanji used his position as a senior works officer to award his company a contract for excavation and concrete work.

"Mr Muhanji was the KPA project manager for the excavation and concrete work and used fraudulent means to award the contract to himself without declaring that he was the director of the company he awarded the tender," says EACC.

The commission's lawyer Brillian Songole submitted that KPA advertised the tender in March 2016 and appointed Muhanji as the project manager.

He says Mukitek Investment Ltd was awarded the contract for concreting an undeveloped plot at the Inland Container Depot in Nairobi through Muhanji's influence, even after the company failed to meet the tender requirements and provided false declaration on its operations.

"They lied that the company was not associated with anyone working at KPA and that it had never engaged in any corrupt practices when the fact was that it lied about its expertise to carry out the excavation and concrete works," argues the agency.

EACC claims KPA paid Sh78,161,858 to the company in February 2019.

"In a bid to conceal and erase the trail of the fraudulent payment, Mukitek Investment Ltd transferred Sh50 million to Telkom Kenya Ltd to purchase a property, which was then registered in the name of Stone Contractors Ltd when it actually belonged to Muhanji," says EACC.

The company paid another Sh6 million to Multi Modal Supplies Ltd, which it had subcontracted.

"They presented false tax declaration forms and lied that they had done similar work for the Kenya Meat Commission."