The director of a company that was awarded a Sh588 million road tender by Kiambu county has admitted to attaching documents flagged as forgeries by the anti-graft agency to secure the deal.
Speaking on Monday at the Milimani Law Courts, Charles Chege, the director of Testimony Enterprises, was unable to produce any evidence to counter claims by the EACC that he used forged documents to be awarded the tender.
Some of the alleged forged documents are academic certificates of technical staff that Chege presented to convince the county that his company was capable of undertaking the road construction works.
Other forgeries were those of a Chinese construction firm. It is alleged that Testimony forged their documents to show that they were in a partnership to be awarded the road tender.
Chege, who is currently defending himself against the graft accusations levelled against him, told trial Magistrate Thomas Nzyoki that bidders had to demonstrate that they had participated as a contractors or subcontractor.
He also said that as one of the bidders, they were required to show they had five staff members who possessed certain requirements.
For instance, a site agent must have a Bachelor of Science Civil Engineering degree with 10 years of experience.
To comply, the witness said he attached a number of documents to his bid papers. It is these documents that the EACC said were forged.
The prosecution during Monday's hearing also produced documents from two local universities, which indicated that the certificates being used by Testimony in their bid documents were forgeries.
"From this university letter, the certificate of one person was also a forgery," Chege said.
Chege had attached the said certificate to his bid document.
The investigating officer testified in court in June last year and tabled a number of documents alleging that the award of the road tender to Testimony Enterprises was irregular.
Among them were the forged academic certificates allegedly presented by Testimony and a document alleging that a Chinese firm had entered into a sub-contract with Testimony Ltd. The letterhead in the document, according to the EACC was not authentic, and the signatures were not from their staff.
"Have you brought any documents to show you did this work with the Chinese company?"
" No, I have not," Chege responded.
He, however, asked the court to acquit him of any charges, saying, "I just won a tender, did the work, and was paid for services rendered."
He also mentioned that the county still owes him Sh170 million as pending bills. The court heard that he learned about the tender from one of his workers in 2018 and subsequently bid for the tender.
The tender in question was issued on February 12, 2018, and awarded to Testimony Enterprise, owned by Charles Chege and Beth Wangeci Mburu, after quoting Sh588 million.
The tender was for upgrading of various gravel roads in Thika, Limuru, Gatundu North, Juja, and Ruiru subcounties during the financial year 2017-2018. Also charged are former Kiambu governor Ferdinand Waititu and his wife, Susan Wangari.
The accused persons were found to have a case to answer and are currently at the stage of defending themselves.
Further hearings will proceed on Tuesday.
