street children listed as beneficiaries of City Hall KSh 1 billion garbage scandal

The Financial Reporting Centre is on a trail of monies in the scandal in a bid to get to the masterminds behind the irregular deals. Documents from director-general and financial reporting centre, in possession of Times have so far implicated eight county officers and an influential MCA in the web of individuals who misused public money.

According to sections of the documents from financial reporting centre, the investigation are centered on garbage collection tenders where street children are listed as the beneficiaries, COVID-19 kits supply as well as road construction contracts with one Yunis Ibrahim Khalif at the center of the fraud.

“The large cash declaration forms completed during cash withdrawals indicated the beneficiary of funds to be street boys employed to collect garbage,” reads one of the documents.

The suspected officers face probe into abuse of office, embezzlement and violation of procurement laws in what is suspected to have been aided by a high ranking member of the Nairobi County Assembly serving his third term from Northern Kenya, documents in our possession show.

Khalif is linked to Flexilease Limited which received Sh1.1 billion from City Hall, Capital Waste Management KSh 58 million, Sifa Cleaning and Bins Services Limited KSh 51 million, Buko Developers Limited KSh 4 million, Yassil Developers Limited KSh 4 million, Asmara Ventures Limited KSh 13.5 million, Saffa Construction KSh 10 million and Msafiri Feeds Limited KSh 8 million.

Khalif, Yahya Ibrahim Khalif, Hassan Ibrahim Khalif and Yusuf Maina are listed as directors in the companies.

“It is likely eight entities belonging to Yunis Ibrahim Khalif and eight associates engaged in violation of procurement laws at Nairobi County between April, 2017 and October 2020, the entities received payments totalling to KSh1.3 billion from Nairobi county government for garbage collection and supply of COVID-19 personal protection kits which was not in line with their business profile. There is no evidence the entities paid taxes for the payments received,” reads the document generated by the two bodies.

Khalif and his business associates are suspected of using 10 entities related to them to receive millions of shillings from the Nairobi county government and the Nairobi City County Alcoholics Drinks Control and Licensing Fund (NCCADCLF) for garbage collection services and supply of Covid-10 personal protection kits.

According to EACC, between April 2017 and October 2020, accounts related to Khalif and his proxies cumulatively received KSh 1.284 billion from City Hall out of these, KSh 1.24 billion directly benefited Khalif, either through payments to his own entity accounts or transfers making him the beneficial owner.

The funds were thereafter utilised through cash withdrawals, transfers to entities related to Khalif and other third party entities.

“Suspicion of procurement fraud is based on the fact that three of the entities linked to Mr Khalif received contracts for garbage collection in Nairobi County while five entities linked to him received road construction tenders as well as contracts to supply Covid-19,” the documents note.

Flexilease incorporated as a company on June 4, 2013, received in excess of KSh 982 million between January 2019 and October 2020 in its DTB Account from Nairobi county government as payments for garbage collection contract for the 2018/2019 financial year. The funds were then utilised through internal bank transfers totalling to KSh 713 million to the accounts of Abass, Yusuf and a joint account for Khalif and Amina Ali Bulhan.

Cash withdrawals totalled KSh 132.5 million while cheques to Ibrahim amounted to KSh 26.4 million. Capital Waste Management incorporated on May 15, 2015, with waste management the declared business received transfers totalling to KSh 58.7 million from Nairobi County between March and June 2020. The fund would then be wired to Yusuf as KSh 35.7 million in cash withdrawal, KSh 8 million as internal transfer and cheque payments of KSh 20.2 million.

Sifa Cleaning and Bins Services Limited incorporated the same day as Capital Waste Management, with declared business being cleaning services, between April 2017 and July 2018 received transfers totalling to KSh 51.3 million from Nairobi County government for garbage collection services.

The monies were utilised through cash withdrawals of KSh 35.7 million to Yusuf, internal transfer of KSh 8 million and KSh 20 million cheque payments to Yusuf.

Buka Developers, registered in 2012 with interest in real estate received Sh4 million from NCCADCLF on July 21, 2020, for supply of 2,942 packets of medium examination latex gloves at Sh1, 360 per packet.

The funds were utilized through internal funds transfer of KSh 4 million to related company YH wholesalers limited on July 29, 2020. Yassil, on the other hand, received KSh 4 million from NCCADCLF on July 21, 2020 for supply of 267 infrared thermometers at KSh 15, 000 each.

From the payment, KSh 2.1 million went to YH wholesalers, KSh 800, 000 to Asmara Ventures and KSh 900, 000 to an influential Nairobi MCA from North Eastern. Asmara Ventures, registered in 2017, received KSh13.5 million from NCCADCLF on July 22, 2020, for supply of 2,446 packets of three layer disposable face masks at KSh 5, 500 per packet.

Saffa Construction, registered in June 2019, received Sh10 million from NCCADCLF on July 23, 2020 for supply of 8,000 bottles of alcoholic hand sanitizer at KSh 1,250 per 500ml bottle. KSh 9 million went to YH wholesalers owned by Yunis. Msafiri Feeds registered in 2019 with supply of foodstuff as declared business, received KSh 8 million from NCCADCLF on July 22, 2020, for supplying 320 bags of chlorine at KSh 25, 000 per bag. KSh 3 million went to YH wholesalers, KSh 889, 000 to Yahya and cash withdrawal of Sh2.95 million.

However, the money trail did not end there as the Liquor board on July 20, 2020, instructed the Cooperative Bank to enhance the internet banking transaction limit from Sh5 million to Sh30 million, an instruction signed by one Julius Matekwa, board accountant, Mohamed Sahal, board secretary and Hesbon Agwena, a board director. The following day, KS h69 million would then be transferred to Buko, Yassil, Asmara, Saffa, Msafiri, Touch Down Tours and Kemanan Enterprises with payment to Touch Down registered as for travel package to Dubai from August 17 and 24, 2020 for the board members on a benchmarking tour of rehabilitation centers.

They included Jairus Musumba, board members, Michael Wathigo and Mwaka Mwola. “The funds were utilised in structured cash withdrawals totalling KSh 3.9 million and a transfer of KSh 250, 000 narrated as college fees payment. There was no evidence of payment to an airline to facilitate the travel to Dubai. Notably, none of the board members travelled outside the country as indicated in the supporting documents for the payment to Touch Down Tours Limited,” said FRC. The FRC now wants The National Intelligence Service (NIS) to also carry out investigations to establish whether the eight county staff and 10 contracted entities were involved in violation of procurement laws at Nairobi County government. The officers could face charges relating to award of tenders for a common service to entities owned by the same beneficiary, single sourcing of emergency supplies from common supplier without prior experience, payments for taxable goods and services without provision for tax, among other charges.