War on graft is real and the government hasn’t hesitated! Do you remember when Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC) Joe Sang was asked to step down early this week? As per now, top KPC managers have been arrested.
The arrests are said to have started last night after the Director of Public Prosecutions Noordin Haji approved various charges against them.
The Director of Criminal Investigations George Kinoti then ordered his officers to round up all those to be charged last night.
At least five managers are already in police custody.
Breaking News…massive arrests of top officials in a state corporation in the energy sector on going this morning…
— Ahmednasir Abdullahi SC (@ahmednasirlaw) December 7, 2018
According to The Star, DCI officers are this morning at Joe Sang’s home.
Sang submitted a letter to the KPC board on Wednesday indicating that he would not be seeking a new term as Managing Director next year.
KPC is no doubt one of the corporations riddled with mega corruption scandals that have seen billions of taxpayers’ money either stolen or misappropriated.
The series of scandals kicked off during the 2013/14 financial year when KPC tendered to deliver 60 hydrant pit valves for Jomo Kenyatta International Airport at a cost of Sh647 million.
Hydrant pit valves are gadgets used for refuelling aircrafts.
Aero Dispenser Valves Ltd was awarded the tender to supply the items following a procurement process that investigations later revealed was flawed.
EACC detectives said the tender was inflated – 60 hydrant pit valves at a cost of Sh647 million meant that one valve was supplied at an average cost of Sh10 million, almost ten times the actual price of Sh1.5 million.
On May 24 this year, EACC detectives raided the offices and residences of KPC officials who handled the procurement and retrieved documents that chief executive Halakhe Waqo said were crucial in the investigation.
During the same 2013-14 fiscal year, KPC entered into another flawed procurement in the purchase of composite sleeve repair kits at a cost of Sh404 million.
Composite sleeves are used to restore corroded or damaged sections of a pipeline to a safe operating condition without shutting down operations.
The tender awarded to a local company, Thermodynamic General Supplies, was also allegedly inflated, resulting in the loss of at least Sh230 million.
The then KPC managing director Charles Tanui signed the deal on January 24, 2014 for the supply of 620 composite sleeves of various sizes.
Tanui was replaced by Joe Sang in April 2016 after the scandal blew out.
In October this year, another scandal erupted involving the construction of the Kisumu oil jetty facility which is supposed to help deliver oil to Uganda and Tanzania.
The matter involves loss of Sh1.8 billion through wastage and fraud. KPC allegedly sold old material procured in 2001 to the contractor awarded the tender and claimed to have bought new ones.
The latest scandal to hit KPC is the fuel loss scandal where oil marketers are demanding Sh1.16 billion in compensation for the loss of Sh11 million litres of fuel through pilferage and spillage. Do you think the arrested managers will survive the case?