Liaison Group Insurance Brokers Limited officials arrested by Eacc over Sh40million KMA tender fraud
Two officials of the Liaison Group Insurance Brokers Limited have been arrested by the anti-graft body over ongoing Sh40million tender fraud at the Kenya Maritime Authority (KMA).
Their arrests come barely a week after sleuths attached to the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (Eacc) arrested Head of Human Resource and Administration at the Kenya Maritime Authority Henry Mwasaru in connection with the probe.
Mwasaru is accused of colluding with his counterpart Head of Supply Chain Management Bevaline Lundu at KMA to fraudulently award the medical insurance tender to an insurance agency outside the law.
The two officials from Liaison Group Insurance Brokers Limited, Julius Kitheka, the General Manager of Healthcare and Danson Kaba, the Mombasa Branch Manager, were detained following raids in Nairobi and Mombasa.
They are accused of collaborating with Mwasaru and Bevaline in allegedly committing the procurement fraud over a Sh40,539,760 medical insurance tender.
Preliminary investigations findings show that Liaison Group prepared the tender documents and forwarded them to KMA for advertisement.
The fraudulent tender was awarded for medical insurance, group life assurance and general insurance coverage for KMA staff and board members.
Confirming the arrests, Eacc spokesperson Eric Ngumbi said the operation “yielded valuable evidentiary material that will support the ongoing investigation.”
He added the Commission is focusing on fraudulent insurance procurements in public institutions, which some officials are using as “a conduit for embezzlement of public funds through bid rigging and kickbacks.”
The tender, issued for the 2022/2023 and 2023/2024 financial years, includes KMA-ONT-19-2023-2024, KMA-ONT-20-2023-2024, and KMA-ONT-29-2023-2024.
