PS wanted Kosgey cleared, court told

Paul waweru | NATION Suspended Industrialisation Minister Henry Kosgey in court on April 19, 2011 for the hearing of an abuse of office case against him.

By PAUL OGEMBA pogemba@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted  Tuesday, April 19 2011 at 22:00

In Summary

• Taxman had written to Industrialisation ministry over imports of old motor vehicles

The Industrialisation Permanent Secretary had asked the Treasury to clear former minister Henry Kosgey of allegations of abuse of office with regard to duty waivers on car imports, an anti-corruption court was told on Tuesday.

Dr Karanja Kibicho said that while responding to a letter from Finance ministry on motor vehicle importation waivers last August, he sought to be provided with information on cases where the exemption rule had been violated.

The letter, which was produced in court read: “I wish to dispute the allegations levelled against the ministry that there is abuse of law in exercising the powers granted to the minister under Section 8 of legal notice No. 78 of 2005 and Clause 2.5 for exemption of vehicles which are over 8 years old and Clause 2.4 for left hand drive vehicles.”

He was testifying in a case in which suspended Industrialisation Minister Henry Kosgey is charged with 11 counts of abuse of office.

Mr Kosgey is accused of using his office to improperly exempt individuals and companies importing a total of 113 motor vehicles from the application of the Kenya Standards Code of Practice for road vehicles.

According to the code of practice KS1515:2000, the government outlawed the importation of vehicles that are more than eight years old except those of government interest, vehicles for the diplomatic corps or those brought by returning citizens.

Dr Kibicho said the ministry first received a letter on June 23, 2010, from the commissioner-general of Kenya Revenue Authority, over violation of the eight-year rule.

According to the letter, the revenue authority had proposed that the law prohibiting importation of vehicles older than eight years be respected or lifted so that the government is not seen to be acting on double standards.

It is this letter that the Finance PS responded to. The PS said he wrote a memo to the managing director of the Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs), instructing that all waivers be verified by his office before they are granted.

“I suspected that there was fraud going on after establishing that 87 vehicles had been cleared from Kebs records, yet my office only listed seven,” Dr Kibicho said.

The hearing continues on Thursday.