The government is on the spot for auctioning top range government vehicles at throwaway prices.
Some of the vehicles, VW Passat and Nissan models, have been sold for as low as Ksh 32,000.
According to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), the Transport ministry gave its Labour counterparts low bid prices that auctioneers used as a guide to sell luxury cars.
The committee directed PS Peter Tum, who was appearing before it, to hand MPs authenticated records of the auction that included the particulars of the bidders and corresponding bid prices, and eventual winners and the prices paid.
“We want full names and addresses of eventual buyers of these vehicles. We also want the names of individuals who came up with the reserve prices in both your ministry and the State Department for Transport,” stated PAC chair, Opiyo Wandayi.
Auditor-General Edward Ouko established that there was a collusion between government officers, the auctioneering firm and other parties to set the low prices, leading to loss of public funds and assets.
The said vehicles were extremely undervalued with some being sold below the bid prices and some “attracting extraordinary bids”, disclosed Ouko.
The auditor stated that a VW Passat, registration GK A990T, with no visible damage had a reserve price of Ksh 30,000 and attracted a bid price of Ksh 100,000, but only Kh32,000 was received from a different bidder.
He further revealed that another Nissan Patrol, registration number GK A692Y, had a reserve price of Ksh 131,000 and attracted a bid price of Ksh2.1 million, but was later sold at Ksh 145,000.
A Nissan Patrol, GK A253E, had a reserve price of Ksh100,000 and attracted a bid price of Ksh1.8 million, only Ksh 130,000 was receipted.
According to Ouko, the fact that new vehicles were disposed of leaving eight old ones grounded in the various state department yards raised eyebrows.
“It was not clear how the auctioneer was procured and awarded due to various discrepancies in correspondences between the auctioneer and the head of procurement,” maintained Ouko.
Ouko has also detected massive financial improprieties at the ministry running into hundreds of millions of shillings.
In pending bills, Ouko noted that of Ksh36 million, only Ksh10 million had been paid, leaving an outstanding balance of Ksh26 million.
