Category: Investigations

The management at Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital (JOOTRH) has been put on the spotlight over claims of massive corruption in tender procurement. One Olivia Adhiambo,an accountant is perceived to be operating dubious companies known for hijacking lucrative tenders at the institution.

Out of Sh47 million meant for development at the facility Sh30 million was paid out to KEMSA whose dues had accumulated exponentially for reasons only known to the accountant. The remaining Sh 17 million she is accused to having paid out to her decoy companies.

A list exposing a host of companies that the accountant allegedly operates through proxies who are either friends or relatives to loot millions of shillings from the hospital through skewed tender procurement at JOOTRH has been exposed and the new Kisumu CeC for health Miguda Atyang petitioned to swing into swift action and ensure that corruption at the hospital is dealt and companies winning tenders at the hospital are not owned by top hospital employees.

One of the companies mentioned is Netconsoles which has been contracted to do the cabro pavement at the facility. It is allegedly owned by Adhiambo’s co-wife Consolata Achieng with the husband James Ogoto believed to be funding it. Another company is Jakahongo Limited awarded the cleaning services tenders, Insiders say the company had to bribe evaluation committee about Sh1.2 million to win the tender and replace another company. The company has a cousin of Adhiambo as the director.

Others include Akidos Venture, Moobrow, Erastado and Marcdanation Ventures.

The accountant who was recently involved in a government reshuffle has amassed an incredible amount of wealth in a very short time raising red flags. Corruption at these government institutions should be investigated and action taken immediately. At one point last year, she was allegedly caught in the act when she had gone to the bank to withdraw Sh700K and reportedly added a zero to the figure making it Sh7M.

When Humphrey Kariuki, one of Kenya’s reclusive billionaires was charged with nine counts nine counts relating to tax evasion amounting to Sh17 billion, many including him termed it as a witch-hunt. The calculating businessman who during the time of his hunt was hiding outside Kenya and a dual citizen of Cyprus was listed on the Interpol’s red list by the DCI Kinoti according to media reports. He would later voluntarily resurface in Kenya in a bid to cloth the embarrassment of international arrest and presented himself in court to answer to the charges.

He has vehemently denied the tax evasion accusations claiming the charges are malicious and efforts by his business rivals to taint his name. However, just how clean is Humphrey Kariuki, the business mogul who always has a way out of any crisis he dives in?

Back in 2016, the International Consortium of International Journalists (ICIJ) released to the public one of the biggest leaks of documents and largest collaborations of journalists in history, the Panama Papers. These documents provided an unprecedented look at the secretive industry of offshore finance. Among the 191 Kenyans named, Humphrey Kariuki Ndegwa a Kenyan Tycoon saw himself listed in these papers.

Most know the name, Humphrey Kariuki Ndegwa, founder of Janus Continental Group, a conglomerate that includes The Hub – a premier shopping mall in Nairobi; Africa Spirits, a leading manufacturer of Alcoholic beverages; Dalbit Petroleum, one of the largest oil distributors in East and Southern Africa, and Great Lakes Africa Energy. I could go on and on, Ndegwa is also the owner of the 5-star Fairmont Mount Kenya Safari Club, and the neighboring Mount Kenya Wildlife Conservancy and Animal Orphanage. The controversial liquor billionaire has also been in the news recently after authorities launched a manhunt for him on allegations of evading taxes of more than Ksh3 billion and smuggling substandard ethanol products into the country.

Now that you are acquainted, let’s get down to business. The Panama Papers documentsPanama Papers documents, combined with one year of reporting, revealed how 140 politicians, as well as celebrities, drug dealers, alleged arms traffickers, and the global elite, obscured their wealth (legally and illegally) and questionable business deals through hard-to-trace companies and tax havens, the investigation centred around Mossack Fonseca a little-known but powerful law firm based in Panama, -hence the name-. Here they created shell companies, and corporate structures that were used to hide ownership of assets and evade taxes.

The billionaire was listed as a shareholder in Belgravia Services, registered in Seychelles. Interestingly Belgravia Services had its physical address listed as Cyprus, comes the play. Tax havens -Scheme involves registration of firms in countries that have lower rates Legal game-. The practice involves registration of holding companies in countries that have lower tax rates than Kenya’s, then coming back to trade as a foreign firm and avoiding the dreaded corporate tax, this ploy is well explained here. The company is still active to date.

It is evident the controversial billionaire ‘was’ using the offshore company to avoid tax in the country. How the government used any of the data provided is still a mystery.

With the leak came the potential availability of previously inaccessible taxpayers financial data, almost five years later the Kenyan government has completely slept on its ears, the leaked papers rocked governments all over the world, In the days and weeks after the first Panama Papers stories were published, the prime minister of Iceland and a minister in Spain resigned and police in Panama and Switzerland raided the office of Mossack Fonseca and even the soccer body UEFA respectively.

However, the big question is this the only shell company not only used by Humphrey but other questionable billionaires? This is reliant on the DCI, KRA and their investigations to dig deeper beyond the ICIJ investigations to nab multi billion dollar tax cheats.

Countries have recovered hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes, Actually more than $1.2 billion in back-taxes and penalties has been publicly collected by governments around the world after the 2016 investigation, Kenya? Nil, Infact even Kalpana Rawal who was found to be a director and shareholder in a total of 11 companies registered in the British Virgin Islands exited her job as Deputy Chief Justice due to her age. No investigations, these cases of fraud have totally been forgotten.

As KRA goes on an extreme hunt for tax cheats its wanting that unscrupulous business who hide in tax havens continue to get away with the crimes while innocent Kenyans faces  the wrath of watchdog KRA. The laws need to be applied equally as KRA goes for mobile transactions to nab tax cheats, those using tax havens need to be equally dealt with.

Tricks
Scheme involves registration of firms in countries that have lower rates Legal game:

Some companies that have bagged hefty government contracts and raked in billions of shillings in profits are among those whose owners manipulate the law and use holding companies offshore to cart away all their earnings

How it works

The practice involves registration of holding companies in countries that have lower tax rates than Kenya’s, then coming back to trade as a foreign firm and avoiding the dreaded corporate tax

Hundreds of Kenyan business people are using offshore holding firms to avoid taxes in a clever legal manipulation of registration laws that enables them to lower their local tax burden, investigations by a local media revealed today.

In effect, while the companies earn billions in profit from their local business, they avoid paying their full share of tax to Kenya Revenue Authority — and it is all legal.

Tax avoidance is the legal usage of the tax regime within a country to one’s advantage. It gives individuals and companies a chance to reduce the amount of tax that is payable to the local taxman by means that are within the law.

This scheme involves registration of holding companies in countries that have much lower tax rates than Kenya’s, then coming back to trade as a foreign firm and avoiding the dreaded corporate taxes.

Some of the companies using this complex ownership scheme to avoid taxes have bagged hefty contracts that have raked in billions of shillings in profit.

KRA levies a standard 30 per cent of earnings in corporate tax for firms incorporated in Kenya, while the foreign-based firms pay only 20 per cent withholding tax which is dependent on whether Kenya has a tax treaty with the country where they are registered.

In most cases this amounts to nothing due to transfer pricing where companies book their income in offshore jurisdictions.

Transfer pricing happens when related companies tend to trade with each other — purporting to be different entities.

So bad is the situation that KRA wants to come up with new laws to govern this sector.
“We’re changing tax laws to ensure shell companies of firms doing business without a local presence have their (tax) issues addressed comprehensively,”

A July 2018 report by the Tax Justice Network has revealed Kenya is now one of the biggest tax havens for the rich who are seeking to keep their offshore financial activities secret to evade high taxes in their jurisdictions.

What this means is that more direct foreign investors (DFI) now prefer to conduct their offshore financial transactions in Kenya because they feel, as investors, their interests would be protected by the government.

A few years ago, Kenyans paid millions of shillings in compensation to shadowy owners of Clinix, a company that won a contract for medical cover for civil servants.

According to the registrar-general’s office in the AG’s chambers, information concerning the directors of Farmers International, said to own 99 per cent of the shares in Clinix, had been sought from the ministry of Foreign Affairs, since the company was registered in the British Virgin Islands.

“We have since written to the ministry of Foreign Affairs for disclosure of the names of directors of Farmers International since it is now a requirement for full disclosure of owners of a company before it is allowed to conduct business in Kenya,” said an official at the department, who accompanied Attorney-General Githu Muigai.

She was giving evidence before the National Assembly Health Committee which is enquiring into the matter that has dragged on for four years, exposing taxpayers to millions of shillings loss in interest rates and litigation fees.

However, at the time it won the Sh202 million contract in 2009, the Companies Act was not in place and foreign companies with local agents were allowed to conduct business in the country, and in the case of Clinix, there are local owners who own a paltry one per cent of the shares.

The committee is investigating specifically on why payments to the companies had been delayed following termination of the contract in 2012.

Mr Maurice Oray, KRA’s deputy commissioner corporate policy, told the Media. Kenyan firms are not alone.

They have joined a practice known as corporate profit shifting that’s estimated to result in $600 billion (Sh62 trillion) tax revenue loss annually worldwide, the International Monetary Fund says.

In the construction sector, for instance, Kenyan company Civicon Limited has over the last few years won roads, petroleum and green energy tenders worth more than Sh20 billion in Kenya, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

But 99.86 per cent of Civicon Limited is owned by Mauritius-registered Civicon Africa Group Limited.

The Mauritius government has a 15 per cent corporate tax rate, which is half of what Kenya levies.

Unlike Kenya, Mauritius does not levy capital gains tax and withholding tax, which makes it more attractive to investors.

Tax havens have not only been a headache for Kenya, but for developed and developing countries as well. Recently, the EU threatened to blacklist the British Virgin Islands (BVI) and other such territories unless they adopted rules that can curb tax avoidance by shifting profits to shell companies in zero-tax offshore jurisdictions.

One of the biggest players in the floriculture industry, Primarosa Flowers Limited, has also employed an ownership structure that could easily make a layman’s head spin while trying to understand it — and weave through the ownership maze.

The firm is owned by the Deepak Kamani family through British Virgin Islands-

registered Crest Overseas Holdings Limited (99.9998 per cent) and locally registered Mwaridi Limited (0.0002 per cent).

Mwaridi Limited is, in turn, owned by Crest Overseas (99.9 per cent) and Primarosa Flowers Limited (0.1 per cent). This means that Primarosa also partially owns its owner.
In the British Virgin Islands, where Primarosa’s parent company is registered, the corporate tax rate for 2019 is nil for all BVI-domiciled corporate entities.

There is no withholding tax on dividends, interest, royalties or technical service fees in the BVI, and no branch remittance tax.

For being a tax-neutral jurisdiction, the BVI has become attractive to companies that operate elsewhere and is home to more than 400,000 firms that are charged only $450 (Sh46,350) a year to operate from there. That is how the islands make their money and are home to Kenyan-linked companies such as Crest Overseas, Kamlesh Pattni’s World Duty Free Limited, and Mwendia Nyaga’s Abantu Oil and Gas Limited — all of which have their origins in this archipelago of 60 islands; some of which are billionaire-owned by the likes of Google’s Larry Page and Virgin’s Richard Branson.

In Kenya’s case, some of these shell companies have also found themselves at the centre of controversial government deals.

The best known is the Kamani family, whose patriarch Chamanlal died last month while still facing trial for allegedly using his Panama-registered Sound Day Corporation and several other offshore companies to orchestrate the Sh55 billion Anglo-Leasing scandal.

The scandal revolved around 18 security-related contracts that were to see the Kamanis supply various equipment to government entities.

But most of the equipment was not supplied and the little that was shipped in turned out to be sub-standard.

It has become hard to tame tax avoidance — a global business practice. Samuel Mwaura, partner in charge of taxation at consultancy Grant Thorn-ton, argued that KRA should improve its surveillance of companies to track the initial source of business.

“What matters is the source of this business. If it’s Kenya then KRA should pursue the company for tax. It’s not enough to say my business is registered elsewhere so I should not pay tax. KRA needs to improve its surveillance so that it has information on businesses. It also needs to work with other governments to get information on Kenyans with companies offshore,” Mr Mwaura said.
While there is nothing illegal in using a holding company registered outside Kenya to run a local business, the practice is frowned upon and several governments around the world have been fighting to end it.

In a past study, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) — an intergovernmental lobby — noted that Kenya could have lost up to Sh144 billion (10 per cent of annual revenue collection) in the 2018-2019 financial year through tax avoidance.

Nation investigations indicate that Mauritius and the British Virgin Islands are the most popular tax havens used to avoid taxes in Kenya, and keeping secret the beneficial owners of the businesses.

Businesspeople from countries with corporate tax rates in the same ballpark as Nairobi but who want to invest in Kenya opt to take a detour through one of the tax havens where they incorporate a briefcase company, which then completes the investment journey to Kenya for them.

Companies like Actis from the United Kingdom (Garden City, Nairobi Business Park), Leopard Systems Inc and Qatar National Bank have joined the gravy train while investing in Kenya.
In November, 2016 more than 100 governments, including Kenya, wrapped up talks through the OECD on a treaty that could stop the shell game as it will see taxes paid in the country of economic activity.

The treaty, dubbed the Multilateral Instruments (MLI), will also allow countries on board to amend other tax-related treaties to limit various tricks used by companies to avoid taxes.

The KRA said that this, added to amendment of local laws, could put a stop to the use of briefcase firms to transfer profits to other countries while avoiding taxes.

“We’re in the process of signing the MLI. Kenya is working with global partners — governments and international bodies like Africa Tax Administration Forum (Ataf), and the United Nations to ensure that international tax rules are amended to apply to current business structures.

KRA has given several amendment proposals to Parliament and most of them have been implemented.

“The intention is to ensure companies registered in tax havens are treated differently. It (MLI) will enable us to amend treaties we have with others on taxes. The MLI’s aim is to ensure that our treaties are aligned to deal with abusers,”
Maurice Oray, KRA’s deputy commissioner corporate policy, told the Nation in an interview.

“We’re changing tax laws to ensure shell companies of firms doing business without a local presence have their (tax) issues addressed comprehensively,” Mr Oray added.

Investigative journalists

Kenya’s investigative agencies have also been lax in probing potential tax evasion schemes despite global efforts to expose the vice.

When the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) released a trove of documents detailing how thousands of politicians and businessmen around the world used the shell game to escape taxes, Kenya was left behind in probing its nationals named in the schemes.

Today, France, Canada and Iceland have recovered over $1.2 billion (Sh100 billion) from individuals who were found guilty of tax evasion following investigations that started with the Panama Papers.

Legal

THE LAW ALLOWS THE PRACTICE

While the companies earn billions in profit from their local business, they avoid paying their full share of tax to Kenya Revenue Authority.

Tax avoidance is the legal usage of the tax regime within a country to one’s own advantage.

It gives companies a chance to reduce the amount of tax that is payable to the local taxman.

Tax havens

400,000

Number of countries registered in the British Virgin Islands, a tax-neutral jurisdiction.
46,350

Amount of shillings a company pays each year to be allowed to operate in the islands.

On 1st October 2019 A counterterrorism operation by the Anti-Terrorism Police Unit (ATPU) in Mombasa area resulted in the killing of several al-Shabaab operatives. Police at the Coast are now on high alert over a possible Al-Shabaab attack and a security threat alert has been issued.

The Directorate of Criminal Investigations through social media said 7 suspects had been arrested and over 1,600 rounds of ammo, Grenade, G3 Rifle among other assorted weapons confiscated in a crackdown in Likoni.

A few weeks ago a most wanted terrorist was gunned down and another suspected member injured in raids in Kwale and Mombasa counties. On Sunday, police said the terrorist group is believed to have sent seven operatives to Kwale and Kilifi counties to attack key installations.

Credible intelligence obtained indicates that al-Shabaab operatives are planning to execute terrorist attacks in both the coastal areas, including Mombasa, and Nairobi and a high level terrorist threat warning has been issued

An internal communication sent to police commanders earlier had indicated that some of the targets include Kenya Ports Authority (KPA), Moi International Airport and the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) Mombasa terminus. “It is likely that the operatives may use the opportunity to target social places including hotels and beaches along the Kenyan Coast,” read the letter dated September 28.

Toxic Work spaces: ‘Saviours’ Hypocrisies

Is the impunity we are seeing from government fuelled by the rot within Civil society?

Our government knows our civil society lost direction years ago. They are unable to keep the government accountable because of the rot within.

Senior members of the civil society have sold themselves as saviours but in fact they are deeply entrenched in the corruption within Civil Society that involves controlling the sector with an iron grip.

They decide who gets work, funding and opportunities and in most cases they share these among themselves and their organisations locking out any upcoming solution based organisations, especially those mashinani.

Here are some of the issues captured from a CSO wassup group, that has been doing the rounds.

1. Physical, Sexual, Mental and verbal abuse of employees: This is done mainly by bosses. There have been instances of physical fights in offices.

2: Miscarriages and depression as a result of toxic work spaces: Employees don’t get to rest. Due to the toxic work environments, there have been employees who have lost pregnancies.

3: Non payment of vendors, artists and consultants: This is very common in some NGO’s. The serial mistreatment of service providers especially consultants is common.

4: Stealing of ideas and exploiting HRDs who are then never involved once the project kicks off: This involves the use of their circumstances eg arrests, to come up with project ideas that still exclude them after concepts are approved.

5: Lack of separation between private and work related time: Even when it’s not an emergency some bosses still work their juniors over the weekends and make work related telephone calls even at night to employees.

6: Unnecesary bureucracy to frustrate not only employees but service providers too: Some decision makers are not accountable to anyone and run the organisations like private businesses. They use their power to decide who to pay and when to pay.

7: Gossip, hate mail and wassup discussions targeting employees who are ‘outshining’ other employees: Some organisations encourage this so it is easier to divide and rule employees.

8: Lack of proper dispute resolution mechanisms. One case claims they were denied payment after a consulting ended and when they said they will involve a lawyer they were told they will never work in the sector again. They claim an audio recording of this exists.

9: Shouting, belittling/demeaning of employees infront of collegues: This is quite common in some organisations during staff meetings.

10. Sexual relations between bosses and employees: This gives some employees an upper hand in decision making. They are also able to get away with delegating work they should be doing to juniors and interns

11. Stealing from the organisations through procurement: In many instances, service providers have to ensure kickbacks are given in order to get contracts.

12. Foreign trips are a reserve for a few: Many organisations only allow a ‘special’ few to go on trips. Exposure and perdiem are only enjoyed by a few.

13. The ‘industry’ protects their own: In cases where negative spotlight has been directed at NGO bigwigs. The rest of them gang up to protect the perpetrator. This even involves firing the complainants.

14. Exploitation of Human Rights Defenders at the FrontLine: HRDs mashinani are only involved to help tick donor boxes and are never invited to the high table.

15. Some organisations do not re-mit statutory deductions for employees: Many find out after they have left the organisation and are in need of services like NHIF that their accounts are not up to date.

16. Some organisations have been sued: There are court cases that involve former staff members and organisations for unfair dismissal.

17. High staff turnover: Due to the toxic work environment, some organisations loose crucial staff members. This stalls ongoing projects as new people have to re-build them.

18. Serial mistreatment of service providers: Some organisations have a habit of frustrating service providers once the work starts to avoid payments.

19. Underpaying of employees and misuse of interns: Some Organisations have a huge salary gap between connected employees and those doing
the actual hard work. Interns are also mis-used alot

20. Small organisations with almost no results control huge donor funds: Some organisations are controlled by connected individuals. They are allocated funding but the output is negligible.

21. Various cases of depression: this has led to some employees using anti-depressants, substance abuse and even contemplating suicide as a way of coping

Priding as the biggest private hospital in Delhi, BLK also lays on a big heap of scandals and with a history of medical negligence. Ethics is key in all professions, however, this is not the hospital’s profile, at least according to latest developments.

Medical tourism is one of the biggest revenue avenues for the Indian economy. While in real sense, the bigger local population is unable to afford the healthcare that is limited to the rich since larger population is poor, Indian private healthcare has positioned and sold to the world as the best but is it really as it seems?

I was talking to a senior doctor in Kenya who’s privy to the marketing intelligence and how Indian hospitals are subliminally marketing themselves in Kenya while at the same time marketing themselves. In our talk, he openly said he’d never refer any relative to India. “They sell false hopes to Kenyans, we have best doctors here but a false narrative has been constantly sold to us that Kenyan doctors are incompetent, this is a marketing strategy, India’s healthcare is not as good as painted.”

What’s untold is the fact that India only sell their snake oil to Africa and in five countries particularly, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda and Rwanda. In our chat the doctor asked me why India don’t sell their healthcare to South Africa, Egypt or Tunisia, simple reason is those countries have working healthcare systems.

Kenya for instance, has one of the worst healthcare systems and that’s why we’re vulnerable and we have a stream of quack Indian doctors coming to Kenya and a cartel referring patients to quack Indian doctors outside.

Gospel artist Jimmy Gait is currently on the limelight following his condition that he’s documenting on his YouTube channel.

The ‘Huratiti’ singer whose real name is James Ngaita travelled to India weeks ago for specialized treatment and now says he will not be undergoing throat surgery as earlier announced.

Speaking on his YouTube channel, Gait said after seeking the services of another medic, specifically from India, and after consultations, the doctor said the proposed operation would have left him unable to ever sing again.

“This is because your voice would have permanently changed. You couldn’t have been able to sing. That was truly shocking and I couldn’t believe my ears,” said the singer.

According to the singer, doctors in Nairobi diagnosed him with a strange throat condition and recommended an operation.

The singer further said that he was shocked that Kenyan doctors quickly recommended surgery before carrying out any tests on him, suggesting that they were only out for his money.

“I am shocked that a doctor would rather make money from me than give me the proper treatment,” he says.

The singer then went ahead to share a clip of a doctor describing his problem and one Dr Sanjay Khanna who has been treating him at BLK Hospital in India says that the pain he was experiencing in his throat was actually as a result of increased acid production leading to an infection in his stomach.

Dr Khanna also mentioned that the artiste is responding positively to medication and would be discharged soon.

While this would pass as any other story, there’s more into it, here’s a well choreographed game to disparage the Kenyan doctors, but a subliminal marketing for BLK which by international healthcare standards is unethical and the hospital should be slapped for such stupidity. Doctors and hospitals are not allowed to openly advertise themselves.

According to information that Kenya Insights has learnt, Jimmy’s trip to India was fully funded by BLK and even in his YouTube channel, the musician is seen openly advertising for the the Hospital which is against code of ethics.

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Big question is, if this Hospital which has history of negligence is as good as it advertises itself then why would they go on marketing extremism? We did a page review on their website and found rather disturbing remarks from their clients.

Basir Asir: A total disappointment, I recieved my appointment for 11:45 am, and now it is 14:14 and we are still waiting. I showed my appointment to the lady sending people inside but she says there is no point for getting appointment and that I have to wait. I saw couple people came later than me but were sent to see the doctor before me.
As an international patient, I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS PLACE.

Kumar Gaurav: Well one of Delhi’s best hospital for cancer the staff is not so good but treatment is very good and it bit of very expensive in terms of every thing there is also a mandir for prayer and it’s very good there 24/7 emergency ward available here and there is also a chemist shop inside hospital premises and there visit time in this hospital 4 to 7 pm and in all floor there is atleast 2-3 security guard and there is also sofa for guardian. And also hospital made guardian and visitors pass for patients family and there is also hotels near hospital and there is also a dr lal path lab near the hospital and outside the hospital there is very good street food at very cost efficient food with tasty also and always avoid to take car when going hospital if you are a visitor because there is a to much outside the hospital.

Ambika Bawa: Worst Hospital… Have never seen such unprofessional and unethical doctors with worst administration. They just want to mint money. They deny admission in CGHS. Big money making racket is operating in this hospital.

Got my father admitted in emergency with abdomen pain. Gastro doctors admitted him saying there’s obstruction in intestines. An MRCP was done when he was admitted in emergency. Initially they kept saying all reports are fine and they ruled out gall stones for which MRCP was actually done. They did endoscopy and colonoscopy to figure out obstruction in large intestines. They kept insisting that MRCP and CT scan reports are fine and they don’t see any gall stones. They did all possible test they could and after almost 3 days they informed us that it is a case of gall stone as per MRCP reports.

They made it a case of surgery and scheduled it for next week even after knowing the critical condition of patient and reoccurring accute pain in abdomen.

After two days we again got him admitted in emergency with complaint of same severe abdomen pain. Again doctors had some other theory for his pain and postponed his surgery for 2 months.

Finally we forcefully got him discharged from emergency and admitted him somewhere else.

Nawid S: The Pet scan department in BLK is equipped with low quality system & management besides HoD of this department is the most rude and she has ridiculous management – she can’t take any feedback.

Patients are awaited in corridors before scan.

Low quality control
No hygiene precautions
Total time waste.

Sobia Qaseem: Played with the life of my friend Syed zaheen. Diagonised him with cancer however he was just having a stone. He died yesterday because of heavy dosage and wrong surgery and prolonged treatment. I wonder they might have taken out his kidney as well as he died because of his organ failure. Kept him on ventilator for the past 3 to 4 days. This hospital deserves to get closed. May the doctor who took his life die as soon as possible. Ameen and will rip in hellfire.

Diba Achikzai: They are very unprofessional , they are not trying to treat patients. They are trying to get money through different ways , specially from non- Hindi speakers or foreign patients. Nurses get money for medicine but they either bring cheap medicine or never bring it. There is no control over the prescribed medicine. I don’t recommend this hospital. My brother was in a serious health condition but the staffs were trying to cheat us in different ways to make money. If they are not taking care of these problems no one will go to this hospital. I wish there were option for mines to give them -5 . People should be honest in their reviews to help other families and patients.

Arsh Sharma: Worst experience
I specifically asked for Dr. Hardev Bhatyal but the moment he saw that the receipt is of General OPD, he denied and passed the paper to his Assosiate Consultant Dr. Ankur Arya, who straight away denied that there is no cure for my problem.
He doesn’t know how to talk to a patient, he said if the medicine has not yet been invented what can i do.
Waste of money.
Don’t go for this hospital. They just need money, otherwise they won’t treat you.

Ashi Jain: I had a very bad experience here at BLK. My Father and I waited for 4 hours for the doctor and there wasn’t anybody to help us. No doctor showed up. He had colonoscopy and the doctor isn’t even picking up my call. Bad Staff. They’re least helpful. “Healing ain’t their passion.”
I’d suggest you to be a little helpful and friendly with the patient. You’re priority is making money and not helping your patient. I’m very upset and disappoint with the services. We literally went back without any consultation even after waiting in the hospital for 5 hours.
1 star is also more than the services and staff deserves here.

Gurbinder Singh: BLK Hospital Facilities are good but few doctors who act as gold diggers are shaming this hospital. My mother was treated without reasons by Dr Subhash chandra (Cardiology) and though at the operation theatre her veins were punctured but procedure was not due to “No Requirement”, this was feedback of junior doctor doing the laser procedure. We had to pay all expenses of procedure. After four days when my mother had continuity of fever we went to him with new blood reports, he shood us away like dogs, “while we are standing he said, yeh fever hai apko, yeh mera department nahi hai, consult doctor in medicine”. NOW coming to “Gold Digger” situation. Dr Subhash chandra asked me if I want to make a reasonable billing then I need to buy catheter which are used for procedure from outside chemist. I said fine as it may save me money. I got a call from his assitant sanjeev who refered me to a medical supplier called Nilesh. Nilesh quote was one lakh and after small negotiation he gave to me for 48000. He refused bill and said that he will deliver catheters to doctor directly. Now when the procedure was not done I asked to refund, the medical supplier told me that 12000 plust shall be refunded and he did. The whole episode is true and recorded. These kind of doctors are a curse to our system.

Zoya Sherwani: Pathetic hospital.. I wish i could give them negative five stars.. This hospital is good for nothing. Lifts are too slow that you will reach your respective floor in half an hour atleast. Moreover, the staff will ask you to use stairs instead of lift whenever they feel so irrespective of having a multistorey building.. Only a single person is allowed to meet the patient in their ward as well.. Male guards have the authority to check female handbags/purse who visits the patients.. Arrogant staff who don’t know how to operate various instruments.. These kind of hospitals should be shut down because they don’t know how to serve the society.. They are only engaged in money making.

Nitish Chhabra: They are running a profit making shop and have absolutely no care for the patient. The doctor arrived at 11:42 am when he was supposed to be in at 10 am. I couldn’t even breathe to be able to walk he spent like 2 minutes with me and said your condition is very bad and sent for an immediate injection. I had to wait almost an hour inside the emergency area where they had instructed to get the injection. They charged 350 for a injection and it didn’t do anything at all. I could barely breathe, wasn’t able to walk and they were busy profiteering from my misery. They took 600 as visit charge for the 2 minutes that the doctor spent with me.

Nancy Sheriya: Worst experience.Very Very bad. Horrible, terrible experience. Visited twice in this hospital and had very bad experience. I took appointment for Endocrinelogist through phone for general OPD and the person on phone didnot told about the general OPD and private OPD timings and charges. I went to hospital and then i come to know that my appointment is for private OPD instead of general OPD. I fought for the same but i didn’t got any resolution. This has been happened twice. The staff is not properly trained and illmannered as well and no one appolozise for this.I got penalize twice due to this. My time and efforts wasted continuously for two days. I will not recommend any one for BLK. If the hospital is running in market they should provide best services.Being a patient i got frustated and faced difficulties to get treatment in BLk. When i asked about the feedback form the person on reception clearly denied for feedback form. Such kind of behaviour is in appropriate and unethical. Hospital is running behind the money instead of treating the patient.

Anupam Jaim: Worst hospital, focus to extract money from patient. Substandard doctors from poor medical institute. Director of hospital don’t reply on your complaints. Name is multi-speciality hospital but no expertise in specific treatments. Sab Bhagwan 

Ankush Sethi: Good for nothing only money making business. For International patients they did big promises but it was all mess and nothing systematic for foreign patients. Have to stand in line for test from morning to evening.

Rubbish hospital with no clarity or coordination among doctors. Don’t be fooled specially International Patients.

After spending so much, we are going to Apollo now. Stay away from this fish market like hospital.

Sumit Wadhwa: I didn’t like this hospital. Doctor’s are ready to scare patient and only prefer surgery. I had bad experience.

Purti Wadhwa: One of the worse hospital where I visited on my life. Doctor’s are so arrogant. Neurology department is horrible. Blk only prefer surgery and they suggest patient admit ho jaayo.

Kashis Kathuria: Worst Oncology Department.. They frame a good picture then charge you with a fortune, after that they hung you up dry. My father got surgery for oral cancer in jan 2019 now in April 2019 the asked us to go another hospital because the don’t want to take his responsible of the wrong they have done to my father. The condition is worst now. They did not remove the cancer properly.

Kapil Goyal: Doctors are always trying to make fools of patients. They have targets to make the bill as much as possible by doing expensive tests and medicines. Mr. Dhirender as medical officer is giving false promises to patients. Overall worst experience of hospital. Never recommend. Charges are very high they are charging 6 times of actual ptrice of items consumed in surgical. Like diaper they are charging 1300 but actual cost is 200.
There prime target is to make money from patient pockets by putting patients in ICU.
Doctors never give you clear picture about the patient. There will get the documents signed by giving wrong pictures. Zero star is more for this stupid hospital. Please avoid.avoid…humbld request to avoid if u want to survive your patient…

Dhruva Commando: Hospital is good having all the facilities but the behaviour of doctors is very formal and money minded..they dont sympathise with the patients most of the time they should learn ethics..my father undergone cancer treatment in this hospital unfortunately he could not survive more than 1.5years. when he was in last stage and we wanted to get him admitted in the hospital the hospital’s doctors and management(i talked to the senior most management official of the hospital) did forcefully discharge us..this was very deplorable..we did not think that they will do like this with us..they made money with all the procedures surgery, chemo ,radiation, pet scans and all and when there was time to help us in the last stage they did not allow us to keep him in the hospital we had to go to another hospital (dharamshila narayana hospital) and the hospital was so good and the doctors were very cordial there..
So final outcome is Blk hospital is good for all the treatments but since it is a corporate hospital it focus on making miney out of anywhere possible..doctors do not explain well..
5 stars for the treatment given and 1 star for the last time behaviour of the staff..so overall i am giving it 2 stars rating..

Mo Mo: Wish I could give it a zero star! This man from Iraq. Mr. Waleed Rasheed Al-Ogaili, has just passed away in this hospital after donating part of his liver to his mother! The hospital assured the patient that this is a 99% safe and successful procedure but he still lost his life! We need an explanation of why this man died?
Avoid this hospital at all costs until the truth is told!

Jimmy Gait in his sponsored campaign to discredit Kenyan doctors now has another petty petition asking President Uhuru to expose negligent doctors. This young man must stop abusing Kenyans intelligence. As you can see in his petition, he’s once again openly advertising for BLK Hospital. We call upon the international medical board to take action against this Hospital and its doctors for This ethical misconduct.

We’re fully aware that the aim of this maligning campaign is to discredit Kenyan doctors while promoting Indian quacks. Kenya Insights is now fully embarking on a mission to expose frauds like BLK using dishonesty to sell their services. More is coming in subsequent exposes. Kenyan doctors are in high demand for example in England and the US while at home the discrediting by questionable Indian doctors is on the rising.

We’re also asking the public to give information on India healthcare tourism cartels, let’s expose them. We  know of people making billions by referring patients to India. Reach out to me on email with any valuable information ([email protected]) we’re just getting started.

As Kenyans eagerly wait for the autopsy report of Tob Cohen to know the cause of his a death a case that has become a national interest and trending topic, the Dutch are on ahead in cracking the case.

Autopsy on the body of Cohen was conducted on Wednesday in the view of his wife Sarah Wairimu who’s a suspect in his murder in operation by three pathologists.

While Government’ Chief Pathologist Oduor who presided over the exercise couldn’t comment on the matter on its conclusion, a Dutch Newspaper now reports that their national had his head smashed.

According to the publication, the body of Dutchman Tob Cohen (69) who was murdered in Kenya shows many traces of violence. This emerged from a scan of the remains, sources close to the investigation report to the site.

AD reports that the scan images of the body show, among other things, that Cohen’s skull was smashed, his hands broken and his left leg twisted. According to their sources, the scan, which was made at Kenyatta Hospital , also showed that the Dutchman had attempted to fight off his attackers.

The remains showed signs of torture the police said. ,, Cohen was murdered in a horrible way according to the publication. His hands, feet and neck were tied before he was killed. The murderers took their time, “explained Detective Chief George Kinoti to Kenyan media.

The police launched a manhunt on the killers last weekend. We are looking for around four people. They would have done the ‘dirty work’, ranging from the murder itself to cementing the opening of the water tank into which Cohen’s body was dumped.

The detective suspects Cohen’s wife Sarah WK (52) of planning the murder. She claims to be innocent but was arrested at the end of August based on the analysis of her telephone traffic. That also made allegations against her alleged lover Peter. He has also been behind bars since last week.

Sarah who has insisted on her innocence  is reported to have collapsed on seeing the body of her husband. “Cohen’s widow looked at the body twice shaking her head and said she wasn’t sure it was her husband.” A source to AD.

While the situation remains unclear, both lawyers of Sarah and Cohen’s family have agreed to come to an amicable day to bury the Dutchman in Nairobi any day this week.

Following a contested postmortem that had to have his wife and murder suspect Sarah Wairimu involved, the autopsy held at Chiromo mortuary by three pathologists is finally over. This was after Nairobi High Court allowed Sarah Wairimu Cohen to be present at the postmortem of her late husband.

Following the directive, the accused who is currently remanded at Langata Women’s Prison, was taken to Chiromo mortuary to witness exercise. Justice Stella Mutuku made the ruling on Wednesday morning.

Her lawyer Philip Murgor maintains that Wairimu is the only one who can substantively identify the body.

Lawyer Cliff Ombeta who is representing Cohen’s sister Gabrielle, noted that X-ray imaging has already been done and the results will be presented on Wednesday.

However, the results of the autopsy presided over  over by Chief Government Pathologist Johansen Oduor couldn’t be made public following a court order that prevents investigations being discussed in public to the media.

Speaking at the Chiromo Mortuary, Dr Oduor, who represented the State, said he and two other pathologists, representing Cohen’s family and his widow Sarah Wairimu respectively, won’t disclose details of the findings because “the court has barred us from speaking to the public about details of Cohen’s murder case”.

“We had so many findings in the body, details of which we are unable to release right now because there is an existing court order which bar us from talking about details of the case,” said Dr Oduor.

Dr Andrew Gachi, who represents Sarah Wairimu, said besides the autopsy, other tests will be conducted on Cohen’s body in order to assist detectives in their investigations.

“We understand what the law says: that details of any investigation must not be discussed in public. We want to respect our courts, and, therefore, we leave it at that for the day,” said Dr Gachi.

“The reports will be sent to the concerned people or authorities. We need to do toxicology, DNA tests, histology… There are several tests that still need to be done,” added Dr Gachi.

Dr Emily Rogena, who represented Cohen’s family, said preliminary test results showed that the body belonged to the late 71-year-old businessman, though more tests will be conducted to ascertain the body’s identity.

“We are still waiting for the final confirmation, the DNA test. But, so far, we all are in agreement that the body is that of Tob Cohen,” said Dr Rogena.

Tob Cohen went missing in 20th July only for his body to be found in a septic tank.

The planned post mortem exercise on the body of Dutch National Tob Cohen to establish the cause of his death had been scheduled for Tuesday but far to be canceled and postponed to today  (Wednesday) following disagreements among parties in the case.

Sarah Wairimu’s lawyers are said to have objected having government pathologist Dr Peter Ndegwa preside over the process.

They claimed he may be biased or prejudiced because he visited the alleged scene where Cohen’s body was found and made some comments there.

Dr Ndegwa confirmed he was not comfortable with the remarks he made at the alleged scene where the body was found. While at the scene, Dr Ndegwa is said to have stated that Cohen’s hands were tied to the back and there were indications of torture.

Dr Ndegwa said Chief government pathologist Dr Johansen Oduor who has been on leave had been recalled to come and preside over the event.

More to follow….

Kenya Airways’ half-year loss more than doubled to Sh8.56 billion, sinking shareholders into a deeper negative equity position of Sh16.18 billion.

The airline attributed the 112 percent widening of loss to increased operating costs in the wake of its expansion into new routes and the return of two Boeing 787 planes that had been sub-leased to Oman Air.

The company’s revenue jumped by 12.1 percent to Sh58.5 billion in the period, from Sh52.1 billion in the first six months of last year.

Similarly, costs jumped 15.4 percent to Sh61.4 billion in the period from Sh53.2 billion last year, eating into the carrier’s margins.

Kenya Insights is in hold of several reports touching on the corruption scandals and high scales in which case, we’re going to handle them one at a time. In the first instance, we’re going to demonstrate how Dubai Bank has been used to loot the national airline KQ through unscrupulous deals with fraud insiders a scandal that dates years back.

With a steady history of making losses, in 2016, KQ engaged Deloitte to carry an independent audit on financial records to determine the missing links as the company continued to make losses.

The company was mandated in this engagement to carry out a review of 40 specific foreign exchange repatriation transactions identified by the Internal Audit Department. The key objective of the review was to identify any anomalies, non-compliance to internal procedures and/ or policies and recommend any remedial actions that may be available based upon the findings made.

To achieve the objectives, Deloitte carried out interviews with relevant members of staff, reviewed documents and carried out digital forensic analysis of computer Hard Drives for company issued computers of relevant key role players in the repatriation process.

Deloitte investigations found many instances where a Mr Itegi Githinji initiated and negotiated transactions.

This was irregular since he was not authorised to negotiate transactions on behalf of KQ as per the 367th minutes of the board of directors of KQ that specified only the MD, FD, Treasury manager and Supervisor Funds Management can initiate FX transactions with counterparties as approved by the board of directors.

They established that KQ began trading with Dubai Bank before board approval was obtained.

In collaboration with Kenya Deposit Insurance Corporation (KDIC) the receiver manager of Dubai bank we sought to understand if any of the KQ employees and any of their close associates could have benefited from these irregular FX transactions. 

In their letter dated 21 April KDIC confirmed that Itegi Githinji had received several payments and during the meeting held on 25 April confirmed that Itegi Githinji ID No. 21971433 had on various occasions received KES. 13.5 million, whereas his wife Grace Wamuyu Mathenge had received KES. 8.5 On three occasions from Eastleigh Branch of Dubai bank.

It was established in the investigations and in documents seen by Kenya Insights that KQ began engaging with Dubai bank sometimes in the year 2013-14 at a time when it was experiencing financial difficulties. 

On 18 August 2014, the board approved Dubai Bank as one of the banks that KQ would obtain facilities from to a maximum of KES 500 million. On the 23April 2015, KQ obtained a bank guarantee of USD 7 million equivalent to KES 655,900,000. This facility was KES 155,900,000 above the board approved limit. The bank guarantee facility letter was signed by Mr. Mbuvi and Mr. Mbugua in their capacity as the CEO/MD and FD respectively.

The total fees paid by KQ for the bank guarantee was USD 350,000 on the 4 May 2015, comprised of 2% commission fees and 1 % appraisal fees. However on recalculation, this fee was found to have been overstated by USD 140,000 as follows; (1% appraisal fees * USD 7 M = 70,000 + 2% commission fees *7 M = 140,000).total fees payable = 210,000. 

The payment of USD 350,000 was initiated by Mr. Vuyala, first approver was Mr. Njiiri and the second approver was Ms. Kiboi.

It was also found out that Ms. Kiboi was a category A signatory and Mr. Njiiri was a category B signatory. This exposed KQ to a significant control weakness given that the two could initiate and conclude a payment transaction without independent checks.

While Deloitte didn’t go deeper in their report that was based on a whistleblower report (that Kenya Insights has seen) the amount of dirt in the Kenya’s National airline will shock the nation when it finally unravels and relevant authorities spring into action as KQ goes on its knees.

We welcome the fact that the DCI has already launched a Probe into previous management in what will unearth the murky world that crippled the airline.

Currently, the probe is focused on the procurement of services for the maintenance repair and overhaul of aircraft engines at the national carrier.

KQ hires third party firms to carry out maintenance. It within hour hope that the investigations must not be limited to one scandal but extended and everyone involved in the looting made to pay the price of we’re in any way going to resuscitate the airline.

As Kenya Insights embarks in the serialization of the Corruption scandals that have been crippling the company. We’re also requesting the public to offer any relevant information (whether past or current scandals) that could eventually lead to prosecutions and save the company from going to the dark where it’s heading.

If you have any valuable information you can drop me an anonymous email even if it’s not, your identity will be protected 100%. Please drop me an email on ([email protected]). Confidentiality is a top priority.

Charity Ngilu, the governor of Kitui County is on the spot after she was involved in a Ksh85 million fraudulent Ballast Crusher scheme. In social media statements one Mbaki Mbaki, Yatta Kwa vonza ward MCA faulted the contract for supply , delivery , installation and commissioning of a stationary stone crusher plant, 100-120 Tons /hr capacity signed between the county government of kitui and EDN George Diesel Ltd.

EDN George Diesel Ltd which is registered under two Directors ( Geroge Mungai & Nancy Wachira) who also happen to be a couple, was awarded a tender worth Ksh 85,305,490.09 by the county government of Kitui. The contract, however, was on condition that EDN agree to open a new bank account with SIDIAN BANK and accommodate a relative to the county CEO’s son in-laws (JOHN ODUOR) as a mandatory Signatory to the account.

EDN would then comply and open an account on 23/05/18 with sidian bank AC # 01036020003040 with  John Oduor as a signatory. In the next two days the county government through the ministry of trade immediately signed the contract.

Before the hurried approval of this contract the CECM Trade had a quotation from one of the leading crusher plants manufacturers in China Ref. No.: SS201801190422A dated 19-01-2018 with total final price cost insurance & freight up to Mombasa (CIF) of the plant at US$ 212,433

EDN went ahead to source for the ballast crusher from Shanghai Zenith minerals sales CO, ltd and a proforma invoice was forwarded to him via email at Us$ 379,532 CIF Mombasa. They prepared an import declaration form # E1807897755 and the same was approved by Kenya Revenue Authority customs department on 06/07/2018. At this stage Ksh 17,061,098 was paid by the county government to EDN through their new account with Sidian bank.

Shanghai Zenith minerals sales CO, ltd issued another invoice for the same plants dated 16/10/2018 with a suspect increment in the CIF MSA from us$ 379,532 to Us$ 396,232. EDN would then on 28/08/18 apply for another Import declaration form based on the new figures IDF # E180995400 which was also instantly approved.

The plant was shipped under Bill of landing # 142801508896 and on 11/11/2018 the cargo landed and cleared via customs entry number 2018 ICD 60812 which only shows Ksh 1,463,269 was paid as customs dues through the NIC bank on 27/11/2018.

Suspecting fraudulence, Mbaki went ahead and sought a quotation for the equivalent Stationary stone crusher plant with 100-120 tons/hr capacity from Shanghai Zenith minerals sales CO, ltd on August 14th 2019 and the same sales manager who sold the county crusher responded with a quotation amounting to only US$ $208,499 compared to the county governments Us$ 396,232.

To figure out how the scheme was orchestrated, the MCA sought to confirm if the sales manager Shanghai Zenith minerals sales CO, ltd would factor in his margins on their cost and pay US$ 300,150 for the plant and then they would refund the difference of US$ 91,651 to his account based on their formal quotation.

“ we could do this for you but a 10% fee will be charged . This is our company rule. As a result you will have back Us$ 82,486 as US$ 9,165 will be charged” The sales manager quickly responded. The sales manager then went ahead and quickly generated another proforma invoice totaling US$ 300,150 dated Sept 6th 2019.

Genuine quotations from SBM and Zenith confirm that this plant would cost between Us$ 200,000- Us$ 215,000 meaning kitui county lost approximately Ksh 19,000,000 on the cost, insurance & freight up to Mombasa via the well orchestrated fraud.

According to the Auditor Generals report the item was not in the procurement plan contrary to Section 53(2) of PPAD Act,2015, no tender evaluation report was availed, particulars of the persons who submitted tenders or their representatives who attended the opening of tenders was not provided contrary to Section 78(10) (b) of the PPAD Act, 2015, regrets letters to unsuccessful bidders were not provided for audit review contrary to Section 87(3) of PPAD Act, 2015 and the geological survey report on suitability and viability of the project was not even availed.

This proves the Executive was in breach of the law and there was no certainty that the County residents would get value for money for the first payment of Ksh 17,061,098 as at 30th June 2018.

The project was expected to provide 23 million tonnes of ballast required for the construction of Thwake Dam. The ward representative says the initial machinery was not transparently procured and the crusher ownership remains unclear, with the MCA promising to release more evidence.

Tullow oil which entered the Kenyan market in 2010 owes the Kenya Revenue Authority over Ksh16 billion in corporate tax.

In a petition lodged with the Kenya Revenue Authority in 2017, Matra Associates implicates Tullow oil in an alleged multi-billion tax evasion scheme dating back 12 years. The petitioner further accuses the company of using corruption to climb up the ladder to get where the company is at in the Kenyan Market. “Tullow has staged a persistent judicial coup to procure skewed court orders that controvert, breach and/or abuse rule of law” the petition states.

The company owes about Ksh 16.3 billion in the conservative in corporate taxes arising from transactions on product sharing contracts beginning 2010.

The petition claims that while buying out the Production Sharing Contracts and controlling interests (100 percent) of Centric/Africa Oil Corporation while entering the Kenyan market, Tullow did not pay the corporate taxes (charged at 37.5 percent for foreign companies) due to KRA.

The London High Court in a similar case compelled Tullow Oil, enjoined by Heritage Gas & Oil of Uganda, to pay $405 million to the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA), in a case where Tullow Oil sued Heritage Oil in a claim that it was forced to pay Heritage’s $313 million tax bill after Tullow acquired Heritage’s Ugandan asset leading to its strategic exit from the Ugandan market.

In a well curated article on The Nairobi Law Monthly, the series of clever but aggressive transactions by Tullow Oil that helped it dodge taxes and deny the Kenyan government significant revenue are clearly laid out. Get your September 2019 issue right now to read more about Tullow Oils tax dodging racket. Available as a digital copy online, in supermarkets and all local newspaper outlets near you.