Everything in Kenya is turning out to be scandal. Everything good has a silver lining. The praise songs we sang for SGR will turn out to be songs of mourning.
A suspected multi-million-shilling ticketing fraud has hit the Mombasa-Nairobi train service with detectives investigating a complex web that involves insiders skimming off a significant portion of revenue from each trip.
On Friday, things took a dramatic turn when the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) detectives in Mombasa arrested three senior Chinese officials and their four Kenyan counterparts working for the China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) — the operator of the Madaraka Express — for attempting to bribe investigators. They will be charged in court today. They are being held at Port Police Station in Mombasa.
The suspected theft, which was uncovered by Kenya Railways Corporation staff monitoring the Chinese operator, is the latest controversy to hit the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR), which is the single largest infrastructure project since independence.
The Chinese operators are reportedly paid at least Sh1 billion per month to operate the service — besides the loan repayments — and the latest revelations will turn the spotlight back to SGR, whose Phase 2 is under construction.
DPP Noordin Haji authorises EACC to prosecute three Chinese nationals for attempting to bribe investigators from the DCI Sh500,000, in order to influence an ongoing criminal investigation at the Standard Gauge Railway. pic.twitter.com/FzWLsRTD7e
— The Star Breaking (@TheStarBreaking) November 26, 2018
The three Chinese were arrested on allegations of attempting to bribe Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) officers with Sh500,000, but investigators told the Sunday Nation more CRBC officials had recorded statements in Nairobi and Mombasa and there could be further arrests.
The SGR ticket scandal investigation and the arrest has been a closely guarded matter since detectives went on their trail earlier in the week.
DCI boss George Kinoti, who had promised to check and give us feedback on the arrests, did not respond to our follow up texts.
Kenya Railways Police Commander Ayub Gitonga said investigations were still on without giving any further details.
“I am aware of the matter but I cannot divulge more as the issue is still under investigation,” said Mr Gitonga.
According to the insider, one aspect of the scheme under investigation involves creating refunds for tickets already issued to passengers on board for each of the four trips and channelling the refunds elsewhere.
Kenya Railways officials are said to have raised the red flag over an unusually high number of refunds, triggering an investigation that is likely to unearth millions of shillings in lost revenue since President Uhuru Kenyatta launched the service on June 1, 2017.
Do you think the government will prosecute the Chinese who are the main donors in the SGR project?