Sh39 Billion Fake Arms Tender: JKIA Court Detains Former Sports CS Rashid Echesa

Former Sports Cabinet Secretary Rashid Echesa will spend the weekend in police custody pending the completion of investigations against him.

Echesa, who was arrested in Nairobi on Thursday, was on Friday arraigned at the JKIA law court over alleged involvement in a fake firearms tender deal worth Sh39 billion. He was arraigned alongside his accomplices Daniel Otieno Omondi, Kennedy Oyoo, and Clifford Okoth.

JKIA court Chief Magistrate Lucas Onyina allowed police to hold Echesa until Monday to enable them to complete their investigations and search the houses of the accused. Echesa and his co-accused will be released on Monday on a police cash bail of Sh1 million each, the court ruled.

The prosecution had sought to have the suspects detained for 21 days to allow detectives to conclude investigations, but the court said they failed to prove that the accused persons were a flight risk. The prosecution also told the court that investigators needed to travel to the United States to collect more evidence.

The matter will be mentioned on Tuesday, February 18th, 2020.

Echesa is alleged to have used the Office of the Deputy President and the signature of Defense Cabinet Secretary Amb. Monica Juma to strike the fraudulent deal with foreign investors.

He is said to have approached the investors through mail introducing himself as a Kenyan politician who would help them win a lucrative Sh39 billion tender for supply of military equipment. To show commitment, Echesa allegedly asked the foreigners to pay a company named Pizzle Consultancy $115,000 (Sh11.5 million) which he is alleged to have pocketed.

He later summoned the investors into the country and had a meeting at a Nairobi hotel in the presence of people dressed in military uniforms, one of them introducing himself as an Army General who would be the user of the military equipment to be supplied to the Department of Defense.

The investors then organized a trip for Echesa and three others to Poland, the headquarters of their company to inspect the surveillance equipment. 

On Thursday, February 13th, 2020, the two investors, an Egyptian and an American were then taken to Harambee Annex where the deal was to be signed in the Office of the Deputy President. It is here that they became suspicious, questioning why the man who identified himself as General was dressed in a suit this time round.

The two told detectives that they never met Deputy President William Ruto despite Echesa promising that the contract would be signed in his presence. 

Echesa and his co-accused were arrested by DCI detectives at Harambee Annex on Thursday and were questioned for several hours.