Dept to re-auction Apec vehicles

THE Finance Department will re-conduct the auction of the Bentley and Maserati vehicles used for the Apec Leaders’ Summit last November.
Minister Charles Abel said Cabinet had instructed the department to re-conduct the auction here and abroad so that they could be disposed of and the State to benefit from the revenue. The reserve price for a Maserati is K400,000 (minimum) and Bentley K800,000 (minimum).
Abel told The National that the first tender exercise was conducted but there was no minimum reserve price set.
“People thought you can just offer anything for the vehicles so we received many bids well below the value of those vehicles – K50,000, K60,000 bids,” he said.
“We want to make sure that the bid is placed on some of the international auction sites and people overseas, fleet owners and companies could make a bid.”
He said local and international bidders should have the opportunity to buy the assets.
“The priority is to sell them. In the absence of that, the State will look after them and utilise them for special purposes when the State holds events,” Abel said.
He said the Apec report was in the hands of the Auditor-General.
“We just want that process expedited and we will offer him every support to ensure that happens,” he said. “We want that to come out as soon as possible as significant amounts of money were spent some of the assets are quite visible and it was a massive undertaking.
“We always understood there was a budget and we stuck to that but the details of that needs to be made public. We will try our best to make it in the next session of parliament.”