Migori County bought A4 envelope at Sh500 from Obado proxy, court told
Former Migori governor Okoth Obado at the Milimani High Courts on July 14.
Migori county government purchased one piece of an envelope size A4 at Sh500 from a company linked to business proxy of former governor Okoth Obado, the anti-corruption court in Nairobi heard yesterday.
Chief Magistrate Lawrence Mugambi heard the county government paid millions of shillings to companies linked to the ex-governor’s associate for goods and services supplied to the office of the governor.
The companies - Dankey Press limited, Kujulu Business Ltd and Mactoback contractors- are connected to Mr Jared Peter Odoyo Kwaga, a proxy of the then governor, according to the anti-corruption watchdog.
An investigator attached to the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC), told court that multiple documents for various companies were recovered from the house of Mr Kwaga in Uriri.
Among the documents recovered include Local Purchase Orders (LPOs) containing details of the multi-million shilling questionable contracts awarded by Migori county government and payments made to the trading companies.
The investigator, Evans Ronoh, while being led in his evidence by prosecutor Evah Kanyuah said the documents were recovered from Mr Kwaga's residential house in on March 15, 2018 following a search by a team of EACC officers.
Some of the LPOs recovered at the residence were related to the companies such as Dankey Press limited, Kujulu Business Ltd and Mactoback contractors on tenders awarded on various diverse dates between in 2014 and 2015.
The tenders according to the documents were for goods and services to be supplied to the governor's office.
In regard to LPO for Dankey Press Ltd, the court heard that the company had been issued with contract for provision of consultancy services of sanitation facilities in homesteads and public places in Migori County. The tender was worth Sh9,553,360.
The company was also issued with another tender worth Sh5.8 million for delivery of various goods to the governor's office.
The said goods included pens, crystals, envelopes, printing papers and staplers. According to the documents the company was required to supply 1000 pieces of staplers each at Sh1,200 translating to Sh1.2 million in total.
The firm was also required to supply 5000RM A4 papers at a cost of Sh600 each totaling to Sh3 million.
In addition, the firm was contracted to supply 2000 envelopes of size A6 printed at a cost of Sh300 each translating to Sh600,000.
The witness said that the LPO was signed by the Head of Supply Chain Management.
Another tender was awarded to Marcbath Contractors for Sh9.3 million. The tender was for the provision of consultancy services for survey of work environment in Migori county.
The witness continued to state that a company known as Kajulu Business Limited was awarded a Sh4.6 million tender for delivery of various goods to the governor's offices.
The said goods included 200 pieces of hard-disc 500 GB at a cost of Sh15,000 each totalling to Sh3 million.
Further, the company was required to supply 200 pieces of flash discs 8GB at cost of Sh3,000 each totalling to Sh600,000.
In the tender the company was also contracted to supply 2000 pieces of A4 envelopes at cost of Sh500 each translating to Sh1 million.
According to the LPO the company was also contracted to supply 2,000 desk /office organizers at a cost of 500 totalling to Sh1 million.
The witness was, however, stood down from proceeding with his testimony after the defence lawyers said they had not been supplied with some of the LPOs he was referring to while giving his evidence.
The prosecution was ordered to supply the said documents via email by tomorrow morning before the trial can proceed for further hearing.
In the case, Mr Obado is charged alongside ten other people including his four children and Mr Kwaga for allegedly defrauding the Migori county government Sh73 million.
The governor’s children are named as Dan Okoth, Scarlet Okoth, Jerry Okoth and Evelyne Okoth.
The other accused persons are Mr Kwaga’s five relatives including his 72-year-old mother Peninah Auma, his wife Christine Akinyi, his sister-in-law Carolyne Anyango and his brothers Patroba Ochada and Joram Opala. They are jointly facing 27 charges but the governor is carrying the lion’s share of 22 counts.
EACC claims the companies owned by the governor’s close associates such as his family members and Mr Kwaga were awarded multi-million shilling tenders by the county government between financial year 2013/14 and 2016/17.
