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A company linked to OT-Morpho, the French group that was entangled in the controversial supply of voter identification gadgets and computer servers for the recent Kenyan polls, is among four European bank note printing firms standing in line to win the lucrative tender to print and supply Kenya’s new-look currency.
Oberthur Fiduciare will face off with, among others, De La Rue International after the procurement watchdog on Monday cancelled the Sh10 billion-a-year tender awarded to the British printer and ordered a fresh evaluation of bids.
READ: CBK, De La Rue appeal termination of currency tender
ALSO READ: CBK defends De La Rue new currency contract
Swedish firm Crane AB, which filed the petition before the procurement agency, is also in contention for the tender alongside Giesecke & Devrient, a German company.
The Public Procurement Administrative Review Board (PPARB) consequently directed the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) to make a fresh evaluation of all the tenders submitted to it within 14 days.
The PPARB panel, comprising chairman Paul Gicheru and members Hussein Were, Peter Bita Ondieki and Paul Ngotho, called the process of the award to De La Rue “unlawful”, saying the CBK abused the 15 per cent local preference clause. The CBK has appealed the board’s decision at the High Court.
The CBK was accused of giving De La Rue, which is involved in the production of about 150 currencies and prints passports, a 15 per cent margin preference for having local shareholding.
Voter kits
OT-Morpho had been contracted for the supply of 45,000 biometric authentication kits for voters, the associated systems capable of electronically transmitting the electoral results as recorded by the polling stations, and the associated services of training and support to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) for the 2017 presidential election.
The firm denied claims of alleged hacking and manipulation of computer servers, the electronic authentication and electoral results transmission systems during the August 8 General Election.
The French group rebranded itself as IDEMIA following the May 2017 merger of Oberthur Technologies (OT) and Safran Identity & Security (Morpho).
Francois-Charles Oberthur Fiduciaire also featured in a controversial multi-billion shilling contract for the supply of electronic passports more than 10 years ago prior to the merger of all its activities and card systems to form Oberthur Technologies in 2011.
The infamous Anglo Leasing affair, which involved contracts being awarded to phantom firms, shocked Kenyans when it was revealed in 2004.
Anglo Leasing Finance was paid billions to supply the Kenyan government with a system to print new high-technology passports.
Other fictitious companies involved in the scam were given money to supply naval ships and forensic laboratories. Anglo Leasing said then that it sub-contracted Francois-Charles Oberthur Fiduciaire to do the job. |
