Parliament now wants the anti-graft agency to investigate how the Kenya Revenue Authority allowed an unlicensed company to destroy condemned sugar that was later repackaged and sold to unsuspecting Kenyans.
The probe by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission against KRA, MPs said, should be conducted within two months of the passage of the their report, which is still before Parliament.
In the report, a copy obtained by the Star accuses KRA, the Kenya Bureau of Standards, Nema and the Agriculture and Food Authority of sleeping on the job.
The agencies were part of the multi-agency team that were to oversee the destruction of the sweetener after it was condemned for failing basic tests.
“The committee finds the three institutions-Kebs, Nema and AFA-as the most responsible, as they had a major supervisory role to the final distillation process,” National Assembly’s Trade committee chairman James Gakuya said.
The report was tabled in Parliament on Wednesday.
The 20,000 bags of sugar of 50kg each were shipped from Zimbabwe to Mombasa on June 30, 2018, but mysteriously disappeared from Vinepack Ltd warehouse in Thika.
The sugar had been rejected by Kebs after failing the standards, including non-labelling date of manufacture of the sweetener.
Vinepack was given a go-ahead by KRA to convert it to ethanol for industrial use and not for human consumption.
According to the MPs, KRA's decision to award the contract to Vinepack is suspect, as the company was not licensed to carry out distillation by the Sugar Directorate.
“There was no proof even on the part of Vinepack Ltd that the company was duly licensed by the Sugar Directorate,” the report reads.
“It thus the finding of the committee that KRA awarded the tender in contravention of the provisions of Section 55(a)(a) of the Public Procurements Asset Disposal Act No 33 of 2015.”
The Gakuya-led team wants the Directorate of Criminal Investigations to pursue the criminal angle in the award of the tender.
“Within 60 days of the adoption of the report, the Inspector General investigates into the conduct of all Kenya Revenue Authority officials who were responsible for the whole process, leading to conversion of the condemned sugar and recommend requisite legal action,” the committee recommends in their report.
“The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission to investigate the procurement process leading to the award of tender to Vinepack Industry Ltd by Kenya Revenue Authority and take requisite legal action.”
Vinepack directors told the House team it was a KRA official who first informed them through a phone call that the sugar that was in the Thika warehouse was missing.
The distiller narrated how an official ordered them to go to the godown only be met with empty stores.
“The director lost his consciousness as a result of the shock of an empty godown. Later, the director was arrested and charged for stealing sugar,” the report indicates.
The distiller was also not left off the hook after the MPs called for probe on the directors and refer the charges if any to the Director of Public Prosecutions.
“The Inspector General to investigate into the conduct of the directors of Vinepack Industry Limited that led to the illegal and irregular release of the condemned sugar and advise or make recommendations to the Director of Public Prosecutions to take requisite legal action,” the report states.
The condemned sugar elicited huge public outcry, forcing the Trades committee to initiate the probe.
The committee recommended that the Trade CS should come up with a regulatory framework and policies to guide future destruction of condemned commodities.