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A House committee has commenced investigations into how Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) acquired the Sh1.5 billion Integrity Centre without proper documentation.

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said it is interested in establishing how the commission bought the building without the necessary documents from the seller.

At a meeting with EACC Chief Executive Officer (EACC) Twalib Mbarak Mbarak, who had appeared to respond to questions over audit queries relating to the Financial Year 2020/2021, the committee demanded that the commission provides an evaluation report and certificate of official search for the property within the one week for scrutiny.

During the sitting that was chaired by Funyula MP Wilberforce Oundo, the MPs questioned the urgency behind the Commission’s decision to make payments for the project without obtaining the required documents as mandated by the law.

“What was the hurry for…the speed at which money was released for the projects without required documents being availed to the buyer is what has led to the audit query,” expressed Oundo.

Lugari MP Nabii Nabwera questioned the involvement of EACC in to questionable transactions yet it is supposed to ensure prudent use of public resources in questionable transactions.

But in his response, Mbarak defended the Commission saying that no money was lost in the acquisition of the building. He stated that all the necessary documents were eventually received by the Commission on April 26, 2022, and forwarded to the Public Works department for authentication.

He told the Committee that the department confirmed that the building was adequately designed and supervised by competent Structural Engineering and thus advised the Commission to settle the outstanding balance which they did.