NYS scandal suspect Benson Gethi found guilty of forgery to get an IEBC tender

Businessman Benson Gethi has been found guilty of using forged documents in acquiring a tender worth Sh105 million to supply solar lanterns used by the IEBC during the 2013 General Election.

Anti-corruption Court Chief Magistrate Lawrence Mugambi found Gethi, Joyce Makena his relative, Gabriel Mutunga, and Willy Gachanja guilty in a case where forged documents were used to win a tender from the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).

Gethi and Makena were found guilty of forging tax compliance certificates which they presented to the electoral commission’s procurement department in 2012.

“The two uttered the documents which they knew were false the prosecution has proved beyond reasonable doubt failure to comply with the law relating procurement. The aim was to lie to IEBC that the said company was qualified to participate in that tender while it was not,” the court said in its ruling.

Gabriel Mutunga and Willy Gachanja, who worked in the Commission’s procurement department, were found guilty of tampering and altering tender documents without following procurement laws.

"Mutunga was the mastermind who interfered with the tendering process, he was the one who took the document to the evaluation committee where he was the secretary,” the court said.

Joyce Makena in her defense said she was not involved and only came to know of the said tender after her arraignment while Gethi said he never visited IEBC offices at any point.

The court, however, acquitted two other IEBC officials citing no direct link to the scandal.

Gethi and Makena were both directors of Solarmak Technologies which was to supply lanterns for Sh127 million while another company, Konnexions Systems Ltd, had made a Sh107 million bid for the same tender. Solarmak Technologies’ tender documents were however altered to read Sh105 million.

Benson Gethi is also a prime suspect in a National Youth Service (NYS) scandal where he is accused of laundering national youth service funds.