Four years have elapsed without any action since Boere Krisisaksie (Front National’s sister organization) and corruption watchdogs in India, Kenya, Namibia and Zanzibar brought overseas tender corruption to the attention of the South African public because the mainstream media in the country choose to ignore it. The bribery charges brought against a SA government-owned company led to no prosecution against any South African citizen as far as we can establish.
The Kenyan government put out a tender for 9750 biometric voter registration kits to the Kenyan Election Commission. Four tenders were received: 4G Identity Solutions of India which quoted $45 million, Symphony whose bid was $47.5 million, Face Technologies of South Africa at $55.3 million and OnTrack of Israel at $99.4 million. The original tender committee awarded the contract to Face Technologies of South Africa, which ranked third, against the recommendation of the evaluation committee that 4G be awarded the contract.
It has now transpired that Kenyan foreign affairs officials demanded a bribe of 30 million Kenyan shillings for the tender. The chairman of 4G from India, Sreeni Tripuraneni, wrote to the Kenyan Electoral Commission, claiming that from the start the Kenyan Department of Foreign Affairs demanded a bribe for the tender to go through. The tender committee of the Kenyan Electoral Commission all resigned.
Kenyan corruption activist Okiya Omtata filed an urgent case to stop the IEBC from awarding the tender to anyone except the lowest bidder. He claimed: “I have now become aware that the tendering process is being conducted against a backdrop of powerful forces operating corruptly and discreetly to advance their vested interest,” he said.
WHO THEN, IS FACE TECHNOLOGIES SOUTH AFRICA? Face Technologies -1st Floor, Block B Southdowns Office Park, cnr John Vorster and Karee Streets, Irene, South Africa. Face Technologies specializes in:
1. National Identification System
2. Election & Voter’s Registration System
3. Transport Information System comprising of:
o Driving Licence Application
o Driving Licence Card Production
o Motor Vehicle Registration & Licensing
o Cross Border Vehicle Control
4. Cash Payment System Using Biometric and Smart Card Technologies
Face Technologies South Africa caused a loss of $3m to the Kenyan National Social Security Fund when their supposed computerised system failed to work. The Finance Minister of Zanzibar also castigated Face Technologies for the failure of national identity documents in Zanzibar.
In South Africa, Face Technologies is the firm behind the failed eNaTIS traffic information system and they are also involved in the Police Force’s ID cards, the backlog in firearm licences, the corruption-riddled social grants in four provinces and driving license production.
In Uganda, on 2 September 2009, the Ministry of Transport issued a statement saying that Face Technologies does not deliver on its contract. Face Technologies was also fined sh5 billion for not paying taxes in Uganda for five years.
In Namibia, on 24 February 2012, Lithotech raised questions about a tender allocated to Face Technologies for electronic voter registration. Lithotech is now aiming to fight the tender in court, claiming irregularities in the tender.
** Face Technologies bought the right to driving licences in South Africa from Schabir Shaik, the convicted fraudster. Face is a subsidiary of the STATE-OWNED Arivia-kom and apart from the CEO Serfies Serfontein no information about the directors is readily available.
** Arivia.kom (Pty) Ltd had the following directors at the time: Kiruben Pillay, Nonkululeko Nyembezi (Arcellor Mittal), Tebogo Mphuti (Wits), Stephen Mncube (Communications Authority), Pradeep Maharaj (Transnet) and Jasper Buys (UP).
Pradeep Maharaj followed Maria Ramos from Transnet to Absa.
Kiruben Pillay was involved with Altech and Eskom.
Hannes Engelbrecht
Read the original article on Front Nasionaal SA – blad
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