E-Clips:- Business Pictorial - Businessman Linked To Passport Deal

A businessman with high-level connections in the Kibaki government has been criss-crossing Europe seeking a financier for the controversial Sh2.7 billion passports project, the Nation can reveal today.

The businessman, whose name has previously come up in disputed multi-billion shilling government contracts, has visited London and other European capitals shopping for a commercial bank loan he is linking to the government plan to replace passport issuing equipment.

The loan would be made to the Kenya Government, paving the way for implementation of the deal to supply modern equipment for immigration documents, and would be paid by the taxpayer.

News of the businessman visits to European banks came as public questions on the contract sent ripples through political and government circles.

Among the phone calls MP Maoka Maore is said to have received after raising the matter in Parliament last Tuesday was one from the businessman, a son of a former minister and who is said to be close to Treasury Permanent Secretary Joseph Magari.

The man also called the Nation to comment on reports about the contract, first questioned in Parliament on Tuesday last week amid accusations of corruption against the Narc government.

It is understood Vice-President Moody Awori could make a statement in Parliament tomorrow on the affair, which started with a simple attempt by the Home Affairs ministry – which he heads – to upgrade its passport issuing equipment. The Immigration Department wanted a computerised system which could make Kenyan passports more difficult to forge and for which service and spares would be readily available.

Questions have been raised as to why the Treasury, on receiving the Principal Immigration Officer project proposal, cancelled the three firms selected to bid for the original contract for laminating, scanning and passport processing machines and then awarded the contract to another firm without competitive bidding.

The contract was instead awarded to Anglo Leasing and Finance company after being expanded by the Treasury from one which would have cost slightly more than Sh800 million to a Sh2.7 billion commitment. Immigration had asked in vain to continue with its original smaller project because it was "affordable and manageable" and due to the urgency to replace its equipment, even as the government developed the larger one.

When Ntonyiri MP Maoka Maore (Kanu) first raised the issue in Parliament, he claimed that Anglo Leasing had been blacklisted by the government on the recommendations of the Controller and Auditor General after supplying defective Mahindra police vehicles during the Moi regime.

The Mahindra vehicles were the object of ridicule for their low speed and mechanical problems when they became the standard police vehicle in a highly controversial deal. Most of them were grounded with mechanical problems after being used for just a few years despite having been bought at highly inflated prices.

MPs claimed that the passports deal was riddled with corruption, adding that someone must have pocketed Sh1.7 billion in the deal.

Last week the Nation found that Anglo Leasing and Finance was not listed at the address in Liverpool, UK, indicated in its contract documents and was not registered in the United Kingdom.

A Nation correspondent found that a different firm, Saagar Associates occupies the office at Alpha House in Liverpool, which is on 100 Upper Parliament Street. But later Anglo Leasing put out a statement saying it was a Swiss company specialising in project financing and had been trading for several years.

The company maintained that it had a representative office in Liverpool at Alpha House, 100 Upper Parliament Street dealing with English speaking countries.

"The company always complies with any legal and contractual requirements in respect of its business," the statement said. "The potential contract in Kenya is subject to legal and contractual obligations of confidentiality and the company being constrained by these obligations is unable to comment further."

Saagar, the firm at the Alpha House office is a property management company which runs properties throughout Liverpool on behalf of investors. Its Managing Director Mr David Doyle and a board member Mr Colin Flynn were said by staff last week to be visiting Africa.

The Nation was unable to establish whether the African country was Kenya or if any of the other directors had Kenyan links.

Investigations have been ordered into the passports affair by the Permanent Secretary for Ethics and Governance, Mr John Githongo, and the Kenya Anti-corruption Commission is understood to be compiling a report.