A case in which three men and a woman are accused of defrauding a Nairobi businessman of over Sh88.7 million in award of fake government tenders was yesterday adjourned until February 22 for further direction.
When the case came up for mention before Kiambu Senior Principal Magistrate Stella Atambo, she directed the defence to appear before the trial magistrate on February 22, since the magistrate handling the case was not sitting.
The four suspects Mapili David Mapili, Jackson Kiharo Mwondi, George Ochieng Onyango and Mercy Wahiga Wanjiku have denied two counts of defrauding businessman Idris Ahmed Buro who is the director of Naliye Agencies of laptops worth Sh88,784,380 by falsely pretending that they had a genuine tender to deliver and supply the items to Ministry of Information, Communication and Technology.
Senior state counsel Christine Mbevi held brief for another state prosecutor who will be sitting in court number one where the case is to be tried.
They are said to have committed the offence on diverse dates between July 12, and September 3, 2018, at Teleposta Towers in Nairobi county.
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The four are said to be part of a cartel that operates within government offices and use fake letters and local purchase orders to award non-existent tenders to victims.
According to police investigations, the four gave Buro three fake tenders amounting to Sh230 million. One of the tender required him to deliver Panolin Hydraulic Lubricant to the government printer for Sh74.5 million.
They are also alleged to have asked Buko to supply 797 laptops to the ICT ministry at a cost of Sh125.9 million and software at Sh28.7 million.
Buro told investigators that one of the suspects posed as the acting head of procurement at the ministry of ICT during the award of the tender. “I would even meet him at the ministry’s offices on either the 9th or 10th floor,” he said.
The businessman told detectives that he imported the computers from China and delivered them to the ICT ministry, but was asked to take them to a store in Hurlingham.
Police have so far impounded expensive cars believed to have been acquired using the money received from Buro. The vehicles include a Ford Ranger double cabin and a brand new V8 Landcruiser.
It is also said that the suspects allegedly duped the businessman that the phones were to be supplied to delegates during the Tokyo International Conference on African Development.
