Former Kenya Maritime Authority boss Cosmas Cherop, 7 others arrested

Former Kenya Maritime Authority (KMA) boss Cosmas Cherop has been arrested over alleged corruption in the award of a tender.

A statement from the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission said Cherop (who was the Acting Director General of KMA) and seven others were arrested on Tuesday.

“The suspects are alleged to have been involved in corruption and violation of provisions of the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act No. 33 of 2015, in the award of tender for construction of a Multi-Storey Office Block in Mbaraki, Mombasa during the Financial Year 2016-2017,” the statement reads.

The seven other suspects are:

• Edwin Mongare Momanyi (Head of Procurement, KMA)
• Denis Kipkorir Ng’eno (Project Manager/Electrical Engineer, State Department of Public Works)
• Jared Biwott (Director at Mengi Designs Ltd)
• Robinson Mwangi Karigu (Quantity Surveyor, Quanti-Bill Consults Co. Ltd)
• Seth Oluoch Arende (Member, Tender Evaluation Committee)
• Juma Ahmed Ali (Member, Tender Evaluation Committee)
• Jemimah Mkaluma Msinga (Member, Tender Evaluation Committee)

Four other suspects are being sought and have been directed to present themselves at the nearest EACC offices.

They are Joel Kiprono Bii (KMA Branch Manager, Kisumu); Peter Kimani Kinyanjui (Project Coordinator, Mengi Designs Ltd); Bakari Omar Mwakuyu (Member, Tender Evaluation Committee) and Francis Okello Oluoch.

The 12 suspects are to be charged with various offences under the Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes Act No. 3 of 2003 as approved by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).

According to the EACC, investigations in relation to irregular alteration of tender sums in Tender No. KMA/RFP/001/OFFICE BLOCK/2016/17, Tender No. KMA/003/ELECTRICAL/2016-17 and Tender No. KMA/005/PLUMBING/2016-17 exposed KMA to a risk of losing Ksh. 205,379,421.45.