The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) has obtained orders from the Bungoma High Court suspending the auction of Matili Technical Training Institute's assets by a construction company seeking to recover an alleged debt of 17 million shillings for works undertaken in 2010.
According to the EACC, investigations established that the debt was fake and fraudulent, prompting the commission to take the matter to court after the construction company attached and commenced auctioning critical movable properties of the institution.
Lady Justice Mwanaisha of the Bungoma Law Courts issued stay orders halting the transfer of ownership of Matili Technical Training Institute's driving school motor vehicle, which the contractor had already sold through public auction.
The contractor was seeking to recover 17 million shillings for works undertaken in 2010, which EACC had challenged as fake and fraudulent. One of the driving school vehicles was impounded by the auctioneers in June last year, negatively impacting the institution's operations.
"It has negatively impacted on the institution because we have been straining so much to have a very large number of trainees taking driving course go through the course successfully," an official from the institution stated.
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The institute welcomed the court's decision, describing it as timely and crucial for the institution's survival.
"The decision of the court facilitated by EACC is the best ever. You can imagine an institution that has above 15,000 students and you come up with a contractor who wants to possess all the vehicles of the institution, including buses, to his advantage and yet the institution instead is supposed to get back from the contractor what he legally took," the official added.
The orders will remain in force until the EACC application is heard and determined.
In its court papers, EACC told the court that its investigations established that the auction of the school's property was based on a fraudulent and non-existent claim, which information was not available to the court when it delivered judgment in favor of the contractor on January 15, 2024.
EACC revealed to the court that despite the construction company having received full payment for all the contracted works by 2017, the contractors went ahead to file a suit in 2020 and successfully obtained judgment for payment of 17 million shillings, comprising the alleged debt of 9,071,000 shillings together with interest.
"Property that has come from the fees and capitation from government, just to go anyhow like that to an individual who has not followed the regulations of contracting," an official lamented.
The contractor had served the institution with a notice to auction the institution's assets, including training tools and equipment, vehicles, electronic equipment, power generators, and foodstuffs procured for students for the entire school term to offset the debt.
The dispute between Matili Technical Training Institute and Ramagon Construction Company dates back to 2011, when the institution awarded a Ksh29.3 million tender for the construction of a Twin Workshop Complex to the private developer on July 12, 2011.
The contract value was later revised to Ksh58.9 million to facilitate the expansion of the complex. Upon completion, Ramagon Construction Company handed over the project to the institution on July 16, 2013.
At the time of handover, the institution paid the private developer Ksh49.9 million, leaving a balance of Ksh9 million outstanding.
EACC, in its findings, established that the institution paid the remaining balance in instalments between November 14, 2016, and April 5, 2017, at a time when the private developer had already filed a civil suit at the lower court.
The commission alleged that the contractor concealed this crucial evidence at the lower court and purported to sue the institution, claiming payment of a non-existent debt.
