Bomas of Kenya CEO Koria arraigned for m*********e

Bomas of Kenya Chief Executive Officer Peter Gitaa Koria has been charged at a Nairobi Court with failure to comply with the law relating to procurement.

Koria appeared before the Milimani Senior Principal Magistrate Thomas Nzioki where he denied the seven counts of breaching section 44 (2) (a) of the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal 2015.

The prosecution told the court that on diverse dates between December 29, 2020 and June 30, 2021, being the CEO and the accounting officer of Bomas of Kenya Limited willfully failed to comply with the law relating to procurement and asset disposal by approving a budget that had not been authorized.

The charge stated that Koria allowed the purchase of assorted kitchen items and cutlery in the financial year of 2020/2021.

The CEO was further charged with failing to appoint an ad hoc inspection and acceptance committee in relation to the purchase of the assorted utensils. He allegedly committed the offence between February 4, 2021 and March 3, 2021.

Failing to appoint

The charge further stated that Koria failed to comply with the Procurement Act 2015 by failing to appoint another ad hoc committee for the purchase of utensils in the period covering December 29, 2020 and March 4, 2021.

The other offences in relation to the purchase of the kitchenwares were committed between the said period of time.

“Koria was found to have engaged in procurement irregularities in the award of the following public tenders: Quotation No.15/Kitchen Items; Quotation No.16/Utensils; Quotation No.17/Kitchen Items; Quotation No.18/Plates & Cups and Quotation No.19/Cutlery & Other Items which were not factored in the Bomas of Kenya’s Budget and Procurement Plan FY 2020/2021,” read the statement.

The arrest comes exactly a week after the Employment and Labour Relations Court directed the Bomas of Kenya board to ‘unconditionally’ lift Koria’s suspension as communicated vide a letter dated November 20, 2023.

Suspended from work

The court also ordered that Koria be reinstated, pending the hearing and determination of the petition in which Koria was suspended for 12 months following recommendations by EACC.

Defence lawyers Ken Nyaundi, Danstan Omari and Brian Khaemba applied for his release on bond saying the prosecution is premised on malice.

The High Court judge Mathew Nderi had stopped the prosecution and halted the removal from office of Koria,

“This trial is motivated by malice since the High Court had barred the removal of Koria from office,” said Omari.

Nyaundi pleaded for the grant of bond to the accused saying that police barricaded the Bomas Office of the accused to effect arrest when the DPP knew that the prosecution had been stopped, the suspension quashed and now “they want to go against the grain of the law.”

Nyaundi told Nzioki that the law requires both the DPP and the EACC to down their tools once the High Court pronounces itself on the matter of suspension and procurement of the kitchen cutlery.

Khaemba and Omari told the magistrate that Koria had been in suspension since November last year without any pay,

“This man is poor and cannot afford a high amount of bond. He has been languishing at his rural home without any salary. The government violated his rights by denying him half salary while he was under investigation,” Omari told the graft court.

In response, the prosecution cushioned both the DPP and EACC saying investigation were done and the accused found culpable thus the present case. The prosecutor did not oppose the release of the accused on bond saying “it is his constitutional right as captioned under article 49 of the constitution.”