E-Clips:- Business Pictorial - Firm In Passport Saga Denies Claim

A French firm involved in the passport equipment controversy yesterday defended itself against corruption allegations.

Francois Charles Oberthura, which has tendered to supply immigration security and document control equipment to the Immigration Department, said the project did not consist of passports alone.

The project has generated a lot of heat both inside and outside Parliament with the Government being accused of overpaying the tender by about Sh1.7 billion. The project has since been put on hold by Internal Security Minister Chris Murungaru to facilitate investigations into the claims.

Meanwhile, Finance Permanent Secretary Joseph Magari yesterday recorded a statement with the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission over the scandal.

Sources confirmed that Magari was at the KACC offices at Integrity Centre where he was grilled for over four hours. Home Affairs PS Sylvester Mwaliko has also recorded a statement.

Vice-President and Home Affairs minister Moody Awori, under whose docket the Immigration Department falls, has also received harsh criticism over the project.

The passports project was first brought to the fore by Ntonyiri MP Maoka Maore in Parliament, who accused the Government of overpaying the tender.

But the French firm, through lawyer Fred Ojiambo, said the earlier passport project was of a limited scope having only one component for the replacement of the passport issuing system. "The Immigration project is a full-scale security project to strengthen Kenyas national security and its roles in the international fight against terrorism," said the firm.

It listed some of the components of the planned project as an advanced high security passport issuing system, new generation high security passports, a high security computerised visa issuing system and a high security border control system at airports, seaports and land entry points.

Others are high security visas (five-year supply), high security central passport and visa management systems which include computerised revenue collection for passports and visas as well as immigration records and archives for monitoring and investigation.

Said Ojiambo: "Clearly, the scope of the new immigration project has not always been properly presented and comparison with the previous project is inaccurate and unfair." The firm said the Governments intention to improve security and fight terrorism could only be achieved after the immigration security project was implemented in totality.