Detectives attached to the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (Eacc) have trained their guns on at least five City Hall officials domiciled under the Health department in connection to an alleged fake licensing syndicate of food hygiene, food handling and medical licensing certificates running into millions of shillings, investigations by The Informer have established.
It is believed the well-orchestrated fraud scheme is being masterminded by insiders and unscrupulous accomplices from outside.
The fake documents bearing the county logo and super-imposed authorisation signatures are said to be generated at a photocopy outlet and a cyber café situated around City Hall.
At least two were arrested two months ago by Eacc sleuths.
However, a parallel fraud syndicate said to be generating and issuing fake permits for food hygiene and food handling regulated under the Public Health Act Cap 242 Section 13 of the laws of Kenya is yet to be unearthed.
“Such cases are rife here. Two people one from clinical services and his colleague were arrested over such. It is an intricate web of fraudsters that is denying the county the much needed revenue. They appear to be deeply entrenched.” Our source who spoke on condition of anonymity intimated.
Another insider disclosed that, in some instances, traders notably those operating eateries, restaurants, supermarkets and eating houses are requested to underpay the required amount at the bank by more than half, then they are facilitated to get the permits with half of the remaining amount is paid in cash to the rogue officials.
However, speaking exclusively to The Informer in her office yesterday, Head of Environmental Health Division under the department of Public Health and formerly domiciled under the defunct Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS) Margaret K. Sunguti vehemently denied the assertions saying they have no recorded case of such malpractices under her watch for the last two years.
“There is nobody who has ever brought such a case here for the last two years I have been here. The application is done through the portal and payments is electronic or through cash deposit at the bank. Then a receipt is brought here. The technical team on the ground conduct inspections and forward the file to room 357. All documents are ascertained and then it is forwarded to me for signing.” Sunguti said.
In instances where traders underpay, Sunguti told The Informer she attaches a stick note to have the balance settled and sends back the applications form to room 357 at the main City Hall building to have the payment made in full before the certificates and permits are processed.
In May this year, our investigations unearthed a similar syndicate involving a web of cartel running the Nairobi County Housing and Planning department, officials from the Ministry of Transport, Housing Infrastructure and Public Works, Building Inspectorate, Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company (NSCSC) alongside their accomplices from the National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA) minting millions to shield illegal developers while exposing tens of lives and their property to grave danger.
The officials are said to have irregularly facilitated illegal approvals of a storey city skyscraper built on a sewer line.
Electronic Digital Center, a towering commercial building along Luthuli Avenue within the Nairobi Central Business District (CBD) and which is fully occupied to the top floor has a free flowing sewer line underneath.
At the ground floor of the building which is a potential scene of crime awaiting to happen, well concealed gazing manhole covers with openings large enough for a person to pass through can be mistaken for emergency underground escape access vault where raw sewer runs through.
According to tenants who operate business premises within the building, raw sewer spills over the manhole covers during the rainy season due to constant blockages of the sewer line beneath.
The owner of the building is said to have mastered the notoriety of bribing government officials to construct buildings without proper structural approvals or manipulating the approved plans in the cause of the construction and is said town another condemned building in downtown, Nyamakima.
The defunct Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS) had planned a structural audit of private commercial and residential buildings in the city in which at least 600 condemned structures set for demolition.
In the past, a report by a taskforce and a team of investigators formed to undertake forensic investigations into at least 200 buildings whose construction approvals were deemed questionable revealed a total of 400 buildings out of the audited 3, 914 buildings in Huruma alone have failed structural test and thus should be demolished.