Several companies whose Sh6.1 billion payments from the National Youth Service (NYS) were frozen over claims that they were fictitious now want the vouchers seized by the anti-graft body forwarded to the pending bills verification committee, for consideration.
The companies, including some owned by businessman Ben Gethi, accused the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) of failing to disclose to the court that the Director of Public Prosecutions, Renson Ingonga, had expressly advised that there was no evidentiary basis to sustain any claim of fraud and directed the closure of the files and the release of the payment vouchers.
The companies told the High Court that the mandate of the verification committee is coming to an end on December 31 and their payments might be locked out.
“That the court does direct the plaintiff (EACC) to immediately release all vouchers and payments to the current pending Bills Verification Committee for verification and recommendation on payments and whose mandate expires on 31st December 2025,” Tyson Limited, one of the companies, said in the application.
The EACC obtained the court order freezing any of the payments, arguing that no goods or services were supplied.
The anti-graft body added that the purported supply of goods was based on LPOs allegedly issued by NYS, but investigations allegedly revealed that the agency’s officials colluded with the companies to falsify accountable documents, including LPOs, goods received notes, stock control cards and inspection and acceptance forms.
Mr Gethi was among the suspects charged with the NYS scam but was cleared by the court in October 2023. Other companies are linked to Elizabeth Wangeci Ngugi and Susan Nyambura Mburu.
The EACC maintained that the contracts were fictitious and that the goods were not supplied to the State agency.
The suppliers included Highview Trading, Schoolwork Enterprises, Newtool Mart Trading, Ratego Technologies, Realtool Trading and Comptool Trading Ltd, all allegedly linked to Mr Gethi.
The EACC said Mr Gethi, through the six entities, collectively claimed Sh3.4 billion for the supply of various items.
Others are Link General, Jimchar Enterprises ltd, and Tyson limited and Liz Link General Supplies.
The companies sought payments for supplying goods such as milk powder, blankets, corned beef, biscuits, white sugar, tinned pineapples, baked beans, boots and cooking oil to the NYS.
In documents filed in court, the companies say the payments were previously scrutinised under the Cabinet-appointed Pending Bills Multi-Agency Team (PB-MAT), a process established to bring order and finality to historical pending bills across government.
They said the PB-MAT brought together officials from the Treasury, the Attorney-General’s Office, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP), NYS and the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC).
According to the companies, PB-MAT applied verification criteria issued by the Attorney-General and recommended payment of the majority of the claims, rejecting only Sh812 million.
“That given the above history, the attempts by the applicant to obtain an ex-parte injunction after withholding documents for six years is an abuse of court process. It is clear that once the lawful custodian of records formally confirms that it has exhausted all efforts to retrieve further documents, an investigating agency cannot lawfully keep a matter open or seek injunctive relief on the premise of ongoing or incomplete investigations. Any injunction founded on the hope of discovering new material is speculative, oppressive, and an abuse of process,” one of the companies submitted.
Mr Gethi said that correspondence from the DPP showed that the criminal inquiry into the same claims was reviewed twice and formally closed for lack of evidence.
EACC said it received a report from the CS Ministry of Public Affairs, Gender, Senior Citizens and Special Programs, requesting investigations into the veracity of payment claims amounting to approximately Sh6 billion submitted to the NYS by various suppliers.
The anti-graft body alleges that the delivery notes and counter-receipt vouchers attached to the payment vouchers were established to be forgeries.
The eleven companies allegedly submitted 277 Local Purchase Orders (LPOs), delivery notes and invoices to NYS.
