E-Clips:- Business Pictorial - Four Officials Sent Home

News24.com, South Africa

President Mwai Kibaki suspended four senior officials Friday after three weeks of mounting public pressure over a multi-billion-shilling corruption scandal, the head of the civil service said.

The top civil servants in the ministries of finance and home affairs, the head of the government information services and the top lawyer in the office of the Attorney-General were suspended as investigations continues on the award of a 2.7 billion-shilling (about R240m) contract to supply passport-making equipment, Francis Muthaura, head of the civil service, said.

Initial investigations found that there were serious irregularities in the project to buy secure passports and other equipment for the immigration department, Muthaura said in a statement.

The four officials were sent home because they were either "responsible for the authorisation of the project" or "signed the contract or gave critical advice that led to the procurement or signing of the contract document," Muthaura said.

The scandal was revealed by opposition legislator Maoka Maore in parliament on April 20 and is the biggest to hit Kibaki since he was voted into power on a platform of fighting corruption and wide-ranging reforms in December 2002.

It led to public outrage over government handling of corruption within its own ranks even as it takes a tough stance on acts of corruption committed by members of the government of former President Daniel arap Moi.

Maore tabled documents in parliament to show that the immigration department, which is under the home affairs ministry, had initially advertised to buy new passports worth 800 million shillings and had shortlisted three companies, but that tender was changed.

The changes included purchase of security equipment and a financing facility which inflated the deal to 2.7 billion shillings.

The contract was awarded to a Paris-based company, Francois-Charles Oberthur Fiduciaire, without going through tender, a legal requirement for any government purchases, Maore told parliament.

He claimed that an unnamed official in the immigration department pocketed 1.7 billion shillings as a result of the deal, but he did not provide proof to back the claim.

Later, Vice President Moody Awori, whose heads the home affairs ministry, defended the deal in parliament saying it was necessary because it was going to make Kenyan passports more secure and help in its anti-terrorism efforts.

In a paid advertisement on Wednesday, Francois-Charles Oberthur Fiduciaire said it was competent for the job and there was nothing irregular in its winning contract.