KRA’s fresh bid for Itare dam equipment buyers
A crane loads a shovel machine on a truck and other equipment that were used to construct the multi- billion Itare Dam in Kuresoi South, Nakuru County, on April 21, 2021.
Auctioneers are yet to find a buyer for equipment and machinery of a bankrupt Italian firm at the centre of the dispute over the Sh63 billion Arror-Kimwarer dams scandal.
The equipment had been put up for sale since last month but failed to land a buyer with a notice by the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) showing that the goods will be up for auction once again this Thursday (December 23) at the inland container depot in Nairobi.
The taxman revealed that it had registered withdrawals of offers for the equipment owned by CMC Di Ravenna on November 9, November 24, and December 7 this year.
CMC Di Ravenna shipped in the equipment in 2018 for its dam construction projects but financial woes have seen the firm fail to clear the equipment sparking KRA’s auction move.
The multi-million shilling equipment includes dump stations that are used for the safe disposal of raw sewage and muck cars used for tunnelling.
Pressure mounts
KRA has not disclosed the amount it is seeking to recover through the auction set for mid next-month as pressure mounts on the Italian firm that is locked in fights with a lender that is seeking to auction its cars over defaulted loans.
The Italian firm is also under pressure from Absa Bank Kenya which recently put up for auction over 40 vehicles it had purchased for use in the construction of the controversial Itare Dam in Nakuru over a Sh585 million loan.
The forced sale of the seized vehicles and equipment — including Isuzu D/Max, tippers, prime movers, and cranes — had been scheduled for October 28, according to an earlier notice issued by Phillips International Auctioneers.
The Itare dam is the focus of criminal investigations.
The Italian firm went bankrupt and filed for insolvency in Italy to rescue its operations and prevent the company from being liquidated.
It sought to freeze the auction in Kenya pending a decision of the Italian courts, but Justice Francis Tuiyott rejected the application.
Absa and the Italian firm fought over the cars in a period that saw the Director of Criminal Investigations seize 17 vehicles on claims they were financed using public funds.
