Telkom Kenya denies involvement in State acquisition worth KES 6.09B
Telkom Kenya has denied any involvement in the KES 6.09 billion acquisition by the State, which has led to an inquest by the Joint Sitting of the Departmental Committee on Finance and National Planning, and Committee on Communication, Information, and Innovation.
Telkom submitted that it “neither received nor disbursed any funds relating to the exit of Jamhuri Holding Limited (JHL) and is therefore not aware of any details of payees, account particulars, and amounts paid.”
The acquisition, which was made just a few days before the General Election, has raised concerns and criticisms from lawmakers, including the Committee Chair, Molo MP Kimani Kuria, who poked holes into the acquisition.
The Controller of Budget, who appeared before the committee on Tuesday morning, revealed that she approved the payment and asked the National Treasury to seek Parliament approval, but this was not done.
The Treasury had acquired a 60% stake in Telkom Kenya from UK-based Helios Investment Partners for KES 6.09 billion, making the company fully State-owned.
However, documents tabled in Parliament show that the purchase was one of the strings of expenditures that the Treasury incurred without the approval of Parliament in the weeks leading to the inauguration of President William Ruto on September 13.
France’s Orange bought a majority share in Telkom Kenya when it was privatised in 2007 but then sold its stake to London-based Helios Investment in 2015.
When asked, “What was the value of the shares Jamhuri Holding Limited acquired in comparison to the value of shares at the time of the government buy-back?” Telkom stated that “the Board and Management of Telkom Kenya were not privy to discussions between the shareholders of the Company regarding the value of the shares.”