This archive report was first published on 30 November 2019.
Kenya's tender system has become a lucrative business, especially with the devolution of services to counties. County governments are issuing bloated tenders to suppliers, leaving many vulnerable to corruption.
One tenderpreneur has revealed the inner workings of this scam, detailing how unsuspecting suppliers are lured into a world of corruption and deceit.
It starts with a friend or acquaintance approaching you with a business opportunity. They ask you to contribute to a company, which you can use to supply goods to a government institution. You're excited about the prospect of making money, but you forget or don't know that registering a new company in Kenya takes a week.
So, you give them a business name or a company you jointly registered with a family member. Two weeks to a month later, you receive a tender offer for firewood supply worth Sh. 11 million. You source the product, and your contact finances the supply. Within two weeks, your order is delivered.
After delivery, you're told to return the original LPO for a new one with changed prices for the products you supplied using the original price. You're instructed to split the LPO into two invoices. Using the new LPO, you raise two invoices of Sh. 25 million and are informed you need to open a new bank account where you'll be paid from.
You're told to introduce a new signatory, seconded by your friend, to your new account. You can call the signatory your general manager. Your 1st Invoice is processed, and money is sent to the account. Your General Manager accompanies you to make a withdrawal through a bank branch of their choice.
You withdraw the money in cash, leaving you with Sh. 1 million to Sh. 2 million to Sh. 5 million for your service. Note that taxes and bank charges are your problem. After the second payment, your guy disappears or calls you months later with similar offers.
But weeks after you're paid, you have a new car, new lifestyle, and new friends. The scandal breaks out, and the government comes for you and your wife. You spend nights at the police cells, and investigation agencies like EACC, KRA, DCI, and Anti-banking fraud unit come for your neck, claiming they can help you out if you give a share of the Sh. 50 million loot.
Remember, your contact disappeared, and you're on your own. You spend the next 3 years moving from one investigation agency to another, being out on a bail of Sh. 3 million. You're either found guilty or not, but you have your lessons. You may have godfathers or not, but governments change, power shifts, and corruption is a hot potato even 20 years later.
Don't be a victim.
