Minister is named in Sh1.3b cement scam

Minister is named in Sh1.3b cement scam
27 February 2004


Kenya: Cabinet minister Mukhisa Kituyi was yesterday implicated in a scandal which cost a parastatal Sh1.3 billion (approx US$16.8m) in illegal discounts and transport rebates.  The Trade and Industry minister was said by an MPs’ finance watchdog to have been at the centre of the shady deals in which East African Portland Cement, which falls under his docket, lost the money between 1999 and 2003.  As a result of the rip-off, the Government also lost Sh300 million over the same period in Value Added Tax.  The VAT remained unpaid by the cement dealer - MK Roble and Donholm Rahisi Store - awarded a monopoly by the Portland factory bosses.  The scandal had flourished "with the knowledge and connivance" of Dr Kituyi, said the watchdog Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC).   Efforts to contact Dr Kituyi for comments were unsuccessful as he was understood to be out of the country.

 

Published under Cement News