Blogger Cyprian Nyakundi Arrested over Leakage of KPMG Audit Report on Safaricom

Blogger Cyprian Nyakundi

Trouble has once again caught up with Kenya’s most controversial blogger. Nyakundi was arrested on Friday at Galleria Shopping Mall on Friday evening while in the company of a friend. The incident where over twelve CID officers were involved caused a major stir and standoff at the venue.

He was later transferred to CID headquarters in Kiambu for questioning before being put under custody in Muthaiga Police Station where he is still being held. While the initial reason for the arrest was unclear, Kenya Insights can now authoritatively confirm that leakage of KPMG report online and sustained campaign, serialising the report by the blogger held the bulk of arrest.

The damning dossier by accounting firm KPMG — which is now the subject of a parliamentary investigation — details a review of 23 questionable tenders awarded between September 2013 and August 2015.

The telco hired KPMG to do an in-depth audit of the two-year period following concerns about integrity and value to shareholders.
Safaricom Chief Finance Officer John Tombleson(has since been recalled by Vodafone following the allegations) and four other senior executives are named as having influenced the purchase of a Sh1.15 billion five-acre piece of land at Garden City, where the telco plans to build its headquarters.

KPMG auditors also questioned payments of Sh1.2 billion to seven firms for marketing activations that promote the Safaricom brand and its products.

Safaricom CEO Bob Collymore

The report also examines the company’s procurement of corporate promotional merchandise worth Sh201 million from Vajas Manufacturers Ltd, Chinese technology firm Huawei’s Sh1.25 billion contract to upgrade the M-Pesa platform and payments of Sh1.2 billion to media services company Scanad, which is a subsidiary of WPP Scangroup.

Doubtful deals include South Korean firm Kaon Media’s Sh161 million contract to supply set-top boxes, My 1963 commuter card project with Fibre Space (Sh15 million), purchase of network spares management from GSM Systems (Sh201 million) and a billing system from Huawei (Sh839 million).

Safaricom’s CEO had earlier tasked the CID to investigate those behind the leakage of the KPMG report. He exonerated his staff of any wrongdoing saying the report was still in its draft form and not conclusive.

Ironically, Nyakundi started serialising the report on his website days after some other blogs had already begun doing it. He then followed up with a series of sustained Twitter campaigns highlighting the scandals poked in the report. The other main outlets as Nation Media Group have also steadied their serialisation on the report. From the information available, Safaricom has reviewed their adverts contract with large outlet following the serialisation of KPMG report.

Bob Collymore and Michael Joseph have also sued the blogger for defamation and due for a court appearance on 28th, June. The Safaricom CEO sued Nyakundi for calling him corrupt and one without moral integrity, MJ sued because he was called Mr Ten per cent a reference to taking tips over any tender issued during his time at Safaricom.

However, it’s not only Safaricom who are the bloggers case but currently, National Bank and Bidco also have ongoing cases with him over posts that he made on his popular site and social media outlets. Bidco is under probe by the UNDP following claims that the company was involved in land grabbing and environment destruction in Uganda. Bidco has also been sued for tax evasion in Kenya amounting to Sh.5.7BILLION.

The blogger who has made a name out of exposing scandals in the major sectors, a course that has since gained him high profile enemies amongst them Chris Kirubi, William Kabogo, Hassan Joho amongst others.

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