A Chinese construction company has been ordered to refund Ksh3.2 million remitted to it by the Judiciary.
The firm, Nanchang Foreign Engineering Kenya Ltd, was ordered by a joint committee of Parliament to pay the money it received as part of water costs it factored in its bill after it was discovered that it did not spend even a shilling.
The team comprising the National Assembly Public Accounts Committee, the office of the Auditor General and the Judiciary, stated that Nanchang should not have been paid the money for costs it did not incur.
According to the committee, the company, which had been contracted to put up a modern law court in Siaya County used water from the court's main connection.
A investigation was launched by the Office of the Auditor General, who questioned the rationale of paying the contractor.
The team led by Rarieda Legislator, Otiende Amollo, was in Siaya to follow up on audit queries raised by the auditors after Nancy Gathungu, who told the Judiciary to follow up with the contractor to ensure that the funds were not lost.
“We have directed that the money must be refunded and Judiciary head office has undertaken to do that," Amollo stated.
Amollo revealed that the contractor had done the works specified on a Ksh16 million budget paid in advance.
He added that apart from the contentious water bill issue, the committee was satisfied with the work done by Nanchang Engineering.
The construction of the modern court was funded by the World Bank. Total costs of the project amounted to Ksh347 million.
However, the Judiciary dealt a blow on August 18 after the World Bank announced that it would withdraw its funding for the construction of courts in the country.
The the Ksh12 billion Judiciary Performance Improvement Project (JPIP) funding, which began in 2014, will come to an end in October 2021.
