IEBC saga: Now Opposition wants Hassan, Chirchir out

The campaign for the sacking of Kenya’s electoral chiefs resurfaced in the wake of a case in  UK court alleging that some officials were bribed to influence the awarding of tenders.

Opposition leaders demanded the sacking and prosecution of Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission Chairman Ahmed Issack Hassan and Energy Cabinet Secretary Davis Chirchir, who served as commissioner in IEBC’s predecessor, the Interim Independent Electoral Commission (IIEC), over the claims.

But Hassan yesterday said the claims were untrue. He said he was not party to the UK court case, was not aware of the court proceedings and had not been served with any court summons.

CORD principals Raila Odinga, Kalonzo Musyoka and Moses Wetang'ula yesterday claimed the testimony at Southwark Crown Court in London of how a British firm bribed IIEC officials Sh51 million to secure contracts worth Sh200 million backed their position that the IEBC was too tainted to conduct credible elections last year.  

"We demand the immediate resignation of all the officers mentioned in this scandal, their immediate arrest and prosecution. The accountability must begin at the top with the arrest and prosecution of Mr Chirchir and Mr Hassan," said Raila.

He added: "The case in London by the Serious Fraud Office puts our prosecution and our Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission to serious shame and credibility questions."

The Opposition also demanded an investigation of all the commissioners and principal officers of the electoral agency, including all those who worked with the commission, but have since been deployed elsewhere or sacked.

"Smith and Ouzman, apart from giving bribes to the Kenya election officials also printed additional ballot papers for Jubilee which were used to rig the 2013 presidential elections," Raila added.

CORD also demanded the immediate arrest of Trevy James Oyombra, alleged to have been a conduit for bribes between local officials and suppliers.

Concrete evidence

In the UK case, British printing firm, Smith and Ouzman is accused of defrauding Kenyan taxpayers in an ongoing case before a British court. Chirchir was then IIEC's senior manager, Hassan the chairman and James Oswago the CEO.

But Chirchir dismissed CORD's demands saying they were unreasonable as they were not based on any concrete evidence linking him to graft. The documents in the UK case may have been misquoted or misinterpreted by individuals who want to gain political mileage, Chirchir added.

In any case, the Energy boss said, he was not in charge of procurement while serving at the defunct IIEC. 

"IIEC had an independent procurement secretariat which was not answerable to the commissioners. Seeking to make political mileage out of nothing is too unfortunate. CORD is still bitter for losing the last elections," Chirchir said.

Chirchir added that such claims should be forwarded to the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission and the Director of Public Prosecutions for investigations to form the basis for calls for his resignation.

Yesterday, the UK's Serious Fraud Office (SFO) denied that Gladys Shollei was linked to the corrupt award of lucrative printing contracts to Smith and Ouzman Limited as alleged by CORD.

"Mrs Shollei is not named in our indictment as a co-conspirator, although she does feature in our evidence as an official at the IIEC at the relevant time. We are not able to disclose any further information for legal reasons while the trial is ongoing," Fox said.

In the UK court proceedings, the owners of Smith and Ouzman Limited are charged with corruptly winning seven contracts worth Sh200 million.

Investigators told the court that IIEC officials were paid £337,993 (Sh51 million today) as bribes by the company's local agent, Trevy James Oyombra.

The British firm's directors, a father and son, are charged by the Serious Fraud Office with the offence of corruptly agreeing to make payments totalling nearly £500,000 (Sh63 million today) relating to corruption cases in four countries.

Of this amount, more than Sh51 million was paid to Kenyan officials in 2009 and 2010, the court documents show. Chris Smith, 70, and his son Nick Smith, 42, are among the four Britons charged.

"The prosecution case is that the defendants used commission payments to these agents to mask corrupt payments to public officials in the countries who were in a position to influence the outcome of the tender for the business," the suit papers read in part.

Chirchir is mentioned alongside present and past commissioners of IIEC, with the accusations including over-invoicing. Court documents from Southwark Crown Court in London allege that directors of  Smith and Ouzman paid hefty bribes to officials of the IIEC and the Kenya National Examinations Council to win printing contracts for voter and exam material, respectively.

In both cases, the prosecutors present findings from intercepted email communication and cash transfers through a bank account held at KCB that linked Hassan's team and retired Kenya National Examination Council boss Paul Wasanga.

Contract prices for both agencies were heavily inflated, the prosecutors found out, in their charge sheet in the suit filed against the owners of the UK firm. 

A breakdown of detailed email communication between IIEC officials on one side, and Trevy and the Smiths on the other, shows how the bribes were negotiated.

Smooth wheeler-dealer

Trevy was the link who negotiated the contracts and would earn a commission that is tied to the size of contract. But the prosecutors say the commission paid by the firm included amounts that would discreetly be passed on to the Kenyan officials.

In one contract, Trevy who is painted as a smooth wheeler-dealer, even sent his British employers information of what other competing bidders had tendered, saying "have a scrutiny of these bidders and let's talk after". Christopher Smith, retired company chairman and managing director, said in an email reply to Trevy that he would give Chirchir "some chicken so he can buy things to take home for his family".

Chirchir is alleged to have travelled to London on a trip to the contractor's factory to review progress on the electors' card pouches. In a subsequent deal that relates to the Parliamentary by-elections of South Mugirango and Matuga Constituencies held in 2010, the quoted prices were reviewed severally after the printing contract was awarded to include Sh0.82 for commission for the agent and the IIEC officials.

The eventual price was 34 per cent higher than the original quote. In South Mugirango's case, the price for the 57,000 ballot papers needed rose from £5,130 (Sh743,000) to £9,034 (Sh1.3 million), while the cost for Matuga's 51,000 voting papers shot from £7,318.50 (Sh1.06 million) to £8,083.50 (Sh1.17 million). The breakdown of the price for a ballot paper showed that the company would be paid Sh2.30 while commissions would raise it to Sh3.13. In another case, IIEC is accused of knowingly ordering more ballot papers.