Reports surfaced that a company linked to Baringo Senator, Gideon Moi, was embroiled in a Kenya Ports Authority tender scandal. The tenders were issued to two companies, Mitchell Cotts and Nairobi Inland Cargo Terminal to construct peripheral cargo storage facilities on behalf of KPA, next to the Inland Container Depot (ICD) in Nairobi.
According to a report by Daily Nation on Friday, January 3 Mitchel Cotts, allegedly earned the tender illegally. However, on Friday, January 10, through The Standard, Senator Moi demanded an apology from the news outlet, lamenting that the story unfairly linked him to the company and denied being grilled by Directorate of Criminal Investigation officers.
Daily Nation on Saturday, January 11, challenged the senator, maintaining that he was grilled by Economic Crimes Unit officer, Michael Sang inside Room 82 at DCI headquarters along Kiambu Road.
According to the NMG publication, Mitchell Cotts reportedly is a subsidiary of Mitchell Cotts Ltd (an umbrella group) which was registered in April 2000.
Registry documents obtained by the newspaper show that Mitchell Cotts is associated with Senator Moi and he owns it through another company, High Trees Ltd. The politician and his wife, Zahra Moi, have equal shares in High Trees Ltd.
Mitchell Cotts was in the spotlight in 2019 when DCI detectives tracked 18 vehicles to its warehouse, allegedly bought using funds meant for Arror and Kimwarer dams.
Its mother group, Mitchell Cotts Ltd is owned by First Chartered Securities Ltd and Makimwa Consultants Ltd.
Billionaire businessman and banker, James Ndegwa, owns First Chartered Securities Ltd. Assets Managers Ltd is the majority shareholder in Ndegwa’s Chartered Securities Ltd.
Assets Managers is owned by former Cabinet minister Simeon Nyachae through Sansora Investments Ltd.
Daily Nation further reported that Senator Moi’s company and was handed the lucrative tender in a scheme allegedly orchestrated by the Ministry of Transport to calm down big game transport players who lost business after the Standard Gauge Railway launched its freight services.
The ministry allegedly issued the tenders to help the firms recover revenue and to also reduce resistance to the SGR project. The resistance was reportedly being done through the demonstration of truck drivers in Mombasa, who opposed a directive which forced importers to only use the SGR to transport cargo bound for Nairobi-Naivasha.
