Kenya Generating Company (Kengen) has been allowed to proceed with its Package One Sh20 billion Olkaria Geothermal power plant project whose tender was awarded to the consortium of Shandong Kerui Petroleum Equipment Company and Turboden.
High Court Judge George Odunga has upheld the August 22 decision by the Public Procurement Administrative Review Board (PPARB) dismissing complaints by an unsuccessful bidder, the consortium of H. Young and Company (EA) and Yantai Jere Petroleum Equipment and Technologies Ltd.
The Judge said the tribunal, chaired by lawyer Paul Gicheru, had established that ICBC Bank, which is financing Packages One and Two of the massive project, did not issue power of attorney to third parties to act on its behalf.
The bank had only provided formal letters of intent to both bidders. The power firm had acted within its mandate to conduct due diligence on the participating bidders as confirmed by the tribunal, he pointed out.
Justice Odunga observed that the aggrieved consortium was a joint venture whose majority shareholder, H. Young and company (EA), comprised Kenyan shareholders-Joseph and Hannah Schwartzman and Watson Anderson Murigo-who were seeking preferential treatment.
Further, the consortium had protested that the board had turned a blind eye on alleged fraudulent documents that had been submitted by the rival international partnership, he noted.