For 10 years leading to 2018, officials from Israeli contractor Shikun & Binui would jot down transaction details of kickbacks paid to Kenyan government officials to secure lucrative road contracts.
That little black book could now open a Pandora’s box as the anti-graft watchdog completes its investigation into a bribery ring which saw Shikun & Binui, trading as SBI International in Kenya, fined over Sh9 billion by an Israeli court.
The book is just one of numerous pieces of evidence that the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) expects to receive from Israeli authorities to conclude local investigations in a case it hopes will sustain convictions in Kenyan courts.
Former Transport ministers Michael Kamau, Franklin Bett and ex-Transport Principal Secretary John Mosonik headline the list of 18 Kenyans whose names came up in the Israeli investigations into SBI International and the resultant court case.
Others mentioned as beneficiaries of the bribes include top officials of the Kenya National Highways Authority (Kenha), Kenya Urban Roads Authority (Kura), Kenya Rural Roads Authority (Kerra) and the National Environment Management Authority (Nema).
The officials are Samuel Okech (director, Kenha), Linus Tonui (ex-director, Kenha), Mwatu John Mwichia (Kura manager), Mwangi Maingi (former Kerra director-general), John Okuna Ogango (former Kerra director-general) and Nkadayo Joseph Nakodony (former Kura director-general).
Others are Kidenda Otiano Meshack (ex-Kenha director-general), Ephraim Munene Mwangi (Kenya Revenue Authority), Justus Bosire Nyakego (health inspector), Stanslaus Palapala Muteshi (Nema), John Okumu and John Karinge (Kenha). Officials of AMA Consultants, which undertakes consultancies in civil engineering and construction projects in Kenya and other countries, are also adversely mentioned.
According to the EACC, the scheme included inflation of the project costs to enable payment of kickbacks. Most of the projects and contracts in connection with which the alleged bribes were paid were largely funded by the World Bank. The global lender supplied Israeli authorities with documents that aided the conviction of, SBI International officials.
On Friday, EACC spokesperson Eric Ngumbi said the Israel investigation and court case got first priority because that was where the first complaint against SBI International was filed.
Mr Ngumbi said a good chunk of the Kenyan investigation is now complete and that the EACC is only awaiting some documents from Israel and statements from SBI International officials so as to complete the probe.
He said the threshold of proving bribery in Israel is much lower than that in Kenya’s judicial system, but that the watchdog is confident of building a solid case.
“We have covered a lot of ground. A lot that needs to be done has been done. The nature of bribery cases (in Kenya) is that the person has to come out and provide the evidence that they gave out the bribe. We requested the information and the officials of the company are yet to record a statement and provide the evidence for the case to proceed,” Mr Ngumbi said.
Mr Ngumbi said its officials had visited Tel Aviv where they were given access to the evidence gathered by the Israeli authorities.
The evidence included false invoices generated and used to justify the payment of bribes to Kenyan officials, documents held by employees of their subsidiary Amos Hadar and Shay Skeif and “the double books” in connection to the bribes. The 20-page notebook where the transactions related to the alleged bribes were recorded was also seized.
In 2010, SBI had been awarded a Sh14 billion tender for the construction of Mau-Summit-Kericho-Kisumu highway.
The bribery ring came to light in 2018 when two former SBI International employees approached Israeli authorities and blew the whistle. Israeli detectives partnered with EACC to build a case by collecting documents from SBI International offices in Kenya and recording witness statements.
On February 20, 2018, Kenyan and Israeli detectives conducted simultaneous raids on SBI offices in Kenya and Israel.
EACC searched SBI’s Kenyan branch premises in Nairobi and Machakos. Documents, computer files and mobile communication devices were seized. SBI employees and agents, including Israeli nationals on site, were questioned. The names of the Kenyan officials were obtained by the Israeli law enforcement authorities while carrying out the raid at SBI Infrastructure Limited offices in Nairobi and Machakos.
Other evidence obtained during the raid include the method used to carry out the payments, the amount that each of the officials received and the purpose of the bribes.
Israeli investigative agencies in 2019 froze assets worth billions of shillings belonging to the company. To release the assets, the company had to deposit Sh8.67 billion to the confiscation fund of the general custodian. The amount later increased to Sh9.61 billion due to interest over time.
The settlement agreement between the company and the government also determined that the company should pay Sh9.02 billion of the amount that includes Sh346.95 million on its subsidiary SBI Infrastructure.
On Friday, Mr Bett, a former State House comptroller under President Moi’s government, said he was questioned for over six hours in 2018. He, however, denied ever receiving any bribes from SBI International or its officials. Mr Bett maintained that by the time he was appointed Transport minister in 2009 by President Kibaki, SBI had already been awarded road contracts and that his job was to oversee the projects.
Mr Kamau, who was Transport CS between 2013 and 2015 under President Kenyatta’s administration, did not pick our calls or respond to our text messages. Mr Mosonik, and Mr Mwatu and Mr Oketch neither picked our calls nor responded to text messages.
