The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) is probing circumstances under which a container delivering electronic equipment to Parliament from China arrived in Nairobi empty. In a statement issued on Wednesday, the Clerk of the National Assembly, Michael Sialai confirmed that the container tagged ‘diplomatic goods’ was delivered on Tuesday July 30, 2019 as expected but after the seals were opened, it was found to be empty.
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The goods listed as laptops and computer projectors were a donation from the National People’s Congress of China and the consignment was to be delivered through the Chinese Embassy in Kenya. According to Clerk of the National Assembly, the Chinese Embassy in Nairobi contracted a company identified as M/S Bollore Africa Transport & Logistics Ltd to deliver the consignment.
“Indeed a container arrived at Parliament Square on July 30, 2019, whence I appointed some officers from the National Assembly to confirm the delivery as per the correspondence from the consignee (Chinese Embassy),” reads the statement by Mr. Sialai.
“Upon opening of the container seals, the container was confirmed to have been empty. Both the agent and our officers brought this matter to my attention and I made a decision that the DCI officers attached to the Parliament Road Police Station be informed of this development, which was done promptly.”
Computers that were donated to Kenyan MPs from China were intercepted by the National Intelligence Service (NIS) over suspected bugging, Kahawa Tungu has learnt.
According to reports, NIS officials suspected that the computers were to be used as spy tools against the MPs over several projects funded by China that had caused jitters.
The Director of Criminal Investigation George Kinoti said that the matter was under scrutiny, and they would divulge more details with time.
“The matter is under our jurisdiction to get to the bottom of everything and once we are through, we shall give out full details. We are up to the task to get to the bottom of it.” Kinoti said as quoted by People Daily.
Read: Shock As Container Delivering Donation By Chinese Govt To Parliament Arrives Empty
According to reports by the paper, Kenyan intelligence chiefs believe the equipment may have been intended to monitor MPs’ debates and discussions on the divisive China-Kenya relations issue, especially on the mega-projects financed by Beijing.
“We are looking at a possibility that some people in China may have become worried by the concerns being raised by some politicians about some of the mega projects they are undertaking in Kenya and thus saw the need to monitor such talk through eavesdropping. This would enable them to determine how to counter such concerns,” a highly placed source in the security circles said.
The donations included 46 laptops, five projectors and four cameras.
Read: Uhuru’s Foodstuff Donation To The Muslim Community Mysteriously Goes Missing
Last week, the container delivering the goods arrived at the parliament premises empty. In a statement on Wednesday last week, National Assembly clerk Michael Sialai confirmed that the delivery arrived on Tuesday but upon the opening of the container seals, it was confirmed to have been empty.
The offer to donate the goods was made during a visit by the Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of China and a delegation of Chinese officials on April 13 in Nairobi.
In response, the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China said it was shocked to learn of the developments, considering that no such a thing has happened before.
