Lesotho Probes Israel’s Nikuv Over Tender for Identity Documents Lesotho’s Directorate on Corruption and Economic Offenses said it’s investigating an Israeli company, Nikuv International Projects Ltd., over allegations it paid bribes to win a 292 million loti ($30 million) contract to supply electronic passports. The directorate is probing allegations the company colluded with state officials to overcharge the government by about 34 million loti for the contract, Mathlokomelo Senoko, a spokesman for the directorate, said in an interview. Nikuv denies the allegations, Stephen Bekker, its Lesotho project manager, said. “No one has been arrested in relation to the matter, but a number of people have been questioned and investigations are still continuing,” Senoko said in an interview in the capital, Maseru this week. The investigation is politically motivated and is related to a change in government that took place in elections last year, Bekker said yesterday. An alliance including the All Basotho Convention replaced the Lesotho Congress for Democracy as the governing coalition. “There are allegations that involve our company, but the fact is that we are caught in the middle of the old and new regime, and we are not going to get into politics,” Bekker said in an interview in Maseru. The issuing of ordinary passports has been stopped in Lesotho after Nikuv, which is also running the Zimbabwe voter registration, was contracted to issue e-passports and I.D. documents. To contact the reporters on this story: Mathabiso Ralengau in Johannesburg at [email protected]; Amogelang Mbatha in Johannesburg at [email protected] businessweek/news/2013-07-31/lesotho-probes-israel-s-nikuv-over-tender-for-identity-documents
Posted on: Sat, 03 Aug 2013 08:15:48 +0000