Seyani Brothers Ltd on the spot over alleged Shs1 billion fraud during Entebbe airport works

KAMPALA – Parliament’s Committee on Commissions, Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises (Cosase) has discovered alterations in Seyani Brothers’ bid to upgrade facilities at the Entebbe International Airport, where taxpayers could have lost Shs1 billion.
 
MP Richard Ssebamala (DP, Bukoto Central),scoured through the voluminous bid documents currently under the committee’s scrutiny and discovered missing pages and alterations in figures that Members said could be an indication of fraudulent behavior.
“These particular crossings [in the figures and documents] are not our work; that is not my submission,” said Mr Mayesh Seyani, the group’s Managing Director, in response to Ssebamala’s assertions.
 
Two missing pages in the bid documents and alterations of figures that initially read Shs725 million to read Shs1.725 billion raised MPs’ eyebrows.
Committee Chairperson, Hon Joel Ssenyonyi ordered the Seyani Brothers to submit their original bid document and will appear alongside the Uganda Civil Aviation Authority (UCAA) so that claims about inauthentic documents can be resolved.
Another query that rattled MPs regards a one,Vica Patel   who allegedly obtained a diploma in surveying at the age of 13 and was one of those responsible for the works at the construction site.
“Vica Patel, a surveyor, qualified in 2003, but incidentally this Vica Patel was born on 03rd March 1990 which means he became a surveyor at the age of 13,” said Ssenyonyi.
 
Seyani initially said the surveyor in question was, “used in the terminal for this project sometime back in 2015” but later claimed it was a typographical error in his details in the first place saying he will need more time to ascertain the details being contested.
 
 “If this was a material issue, the question is to UCAA [Uganda Civil Aviation Authority] why didn’t they disqualify the bidder?” he said.
He was then put on oath in a bid to cure the incoherence in his submission.
They are expected to appear before the committee again on Friday together with the Civil Aviation Authority.