OC finds anomalies in awarding of contract

THE Ombudsman Commission (OC) investigations into allegations of improper awarding of the Namatanai district agriculture development programme contract to KPE Investment Ltd by the Namatanai joint district planning and budget priority committee was wrong.
The investigation was among several conducted and presented to Parliament by the OC yesterday.
In the primary findings, the OC stated that in its opinion, the conduct of Byron Chan, who in his capacity as the chairman of the Namatanai joint district planning and budget priority committee, was wrong when he instructed the members of the Namatanai committee to award the contract for the Namatanai district agriculture development programme to KPE investment Ltd.
The report also states that the conduct of the Internal Revenue Commission in issuing a certificate of compliance to KPE Investment Ltd was wrong because it was not a registered entity with the Investment Promotion Authority at that time.
Similarly, the decision of the committee was not right when it awarded the contract to KPE Investment Limited when it was not a registered company.
Also, in the opinion of the OC, the conduct of Linus Yipma, the district administrator, was wrong when he awarded a certificate of inexpediency to avoid tendering publicly the project.