Japanese firm EAA in trouble with Kenyan authorities after hiring 'fake' lawyer

Japanese contractor EAA Company Limited is in fresh trouble with Kenyan authorities as it emerges that the firm allegedly hired a quack advocate to fight its blacklisting from public procurement in Kenya.

The Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) has asked police to investigate the firm for allegedly hiring Calvince Omondi Omino and Klein & Omimo Associates to challenge its blacklisting from participating in public procurement in Kenya.

The PPRA in June 2021 slapped EAA with a three-year ban from public procurement in Kenya after ruling that the firm used forged documents in three bids for the lucrative Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) tender between 2011 and 2019.

After losing the cases in High Court Judicial review where the  High Court declined to issue orders in the suits that EAA filed against PPRA, the company then went to lower Chief Magistrate’s Court sued the PPRA and its debarment committee, and secured orders barring its blacklisting.

The PPRA has now filed a complaint with the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) following information that Mr. Omino who obtained the orders is not a registered advocate, and his law firm does not exist. Interestingly, Omino Associates did not disclose to the Chief Magistrate that they had failed to obtain similar orders in High Court.

EAA has since 2019 been doing inspection of motor vehicle and spare parts works for the Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs). EAA lost its bids in 2011, 2014 and 2017. The firm won a controversial contract in 2019 and was anticipating extension of its contract when the Auditor General’s office unearthed the alleged forgery scheme.

Auditor General Nancy Gathungu in 2020 initiated debarment proceedings against EAA and another contractor hired by KEBS, Auto Terminal Japan, after finding out that both Japanese firms used forged documents in their bids for the lucrative tender.

Auto Terminal Japan managed to secure court orders barring the PPRA from proceeding with debarment proceedings against the firm.

The DCI and the National Assembly’s Public Investments Committee have since arrived at a similar conclusion as Ms Gathungu’s in regard to EAA’s forgery.

Under Kenyan law, decisions from tribunal such as the PPRA can only be challenged at the High Court. Additionally, the Chief Magistrate’s Court can only handle civil cases whose subject matter has value of less than Sh20 million.

Curiously, EAA through Klein & Omino Associates, secured orders from the Chief Magistrate’s Court suspending the PPRA’s decision for debarment. 

Principal Magistrate Edgar Kagoni issued orders suspending the PPRA’s debarment decision on December 22, 2021 following an application by EAA which claimed that the regulator had done it injustice yet the value of the said project is above the threshold of magistrate court because it’s over 20 million.

In addition, the debarment of EAA has already been gazetted by the National Treasury vide gazette notice number 14023 of 10/12/2021.

The complaint was filed by PPRA on February 7, 2022 and requests the DCI to probe the alleged quack.

“The firm of Klein & Omino Associates which ostensibly drew the pleadings on behalf of EAA Company Limited is registered as “agents and property managers” and is therefore not a firm of advocates.

“Further, Calvince Omondi Omino who is the proprietor of the said firm of Klein & Omino Associates as per the official search records from the Business Registration Service is not admitted as an advocate of the High Court of Kenya,” the PPRA says in its complaint to the DCI.

After Mr Omino’s firm filed proceedings at the Chief Magistrate’s Court, the PPRA did a search of both the lawyer and his firm on the LSK website, which revealed no results.

The procurement regulator wrote to the LSK on February 4, 2022 seeking to clarify whether Mr Omino is licensed to practice law.

According to documents seen by Citizen Digital, on February 8, the LSK responded stating that neither Mr Omino nor the law firm is licensed. The LSK also recommended that Mr Omino be prosecuted for impersonating an advocate.

In Kenya, impersonation carries a maximum prison sentence of three years.