MP John Waluke Surrenders Himself to Serve 67-year Prison Sentence

A day after the High Court upheld his 67-year prison sentence, Sirisia MP John Waluke has surrendered himself to police in Nairobi.

Waluke, who was re-elected for a third term in the August 9th general election, took himself to Milimani law courts on Friday, where he was detained awaiting transfer to prison. 

The MP was found guilty of defrauding the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) of Sh297 million alongside his co-defendant Grace Wakhungu, who was sentenced to 69 years in prison.

On Thursday, Justice Esther Maina dismissed the appeal filed by the two, ruling that the charges were proven beyond reasonable doubt, and the sentence is not excessive as it is within the law.

Waluke and Wakhungu were ordered to pay their fines of Sh727 million and Sh707 million respectively, or serve the jail sentences.

The judge concluded that the sum of Sh297,386,505 paid to their trading company, Erad Supplies and General Contractors Limited, by NCPB in 2013 was based on fraud. 

“The invoice upon which the claim for payment was based was a forgery. Mr Waluke presented it to an arbitrator knowing very well Erad Supplies and General Contractors Limited had no dealing with the maker of the invoice (Chelsea Freight Ltd) and as a result it was paid the sums by a public body,” said Justice Maina. 

The trial court heard that the defendants received the funds after their company won a tender to supply 40,000 tons of white maize to NCPB. The tender was however canceled after Erad Supplies failed to prove it had sufficient funds to supply the maize.

The company ended up pocketing Sh297 million after they sued NCPB, arguing that by the time the contract was canceled, they had already procured the maize from Ethiopia and that it had been stored by South African company Chelsea Freight in Djibouti for 123 days.

The two can challenge the verdict at the Appeals Court within 14 days.