Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich to Spend Night in Police Cell
Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich and Principal Secretary Kamau Thugge will spend Monday night in police cells ahead of arraignment in court on Tuesday.
The two were arrested on Monday in connection with the loss of billions of shillings in the Sh63 billion Arror and Kimwarer Dams projects in Elgeyo-Marakwet County.
Rotich and Thugge presented themselves to Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) headquarters in Nairobi hours after Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Noordin Haji ordered for their arrest.
Haji also directed the arrest of 26 other officials from National Treasury, Kerio Valley Development Authority (KVDA), and National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) over the scandal.
DPP Haji said procurement procedures were flouted and the law bent to ensure bankrupt Italian company CMC di Ravenna was awarded the lucrative tender.
“Upon investigations by the DCI, it was established that the conception, procurement and payment process for the Arror and Kimwarer Dam projects in Elgeyo Marakwet County were riddled with massive illegalities,” said Haji.
“The investigations established that government officials flouted all procurement rules and abused their oath of office to ensure the scheme went through.”
Haji said the initial contract signed between KVDA and CMC stated that the two projects would cost a combined Sh46 billion but the Treasury negotiated a commercial facility, increasing the amount to Sh63 billion.
“Of note, out of the Ksh.63 billion in respect of the projects, as at January 2019, the government of Kenya has made the following payments: advance payment, commitment fee, insurance and other costs totaling Ksh.19,714,366,991,” he said.
Sh4.6 Billion more was borrowed in addition to the principal amount to pay interest in advance during the construction period, which to date has not started.
The suspects will be charged with conspiracy to defraud, willful failure to comply with applicable procurement procedures, abuse of office, and fraudulent acquisition of public property among others.
Comments
Why not spend the night in…
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Why not spend the night in Kamiti or Naivasha prison. We do not trust Muthaiga police cell.
Asleep at wheel. The…
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Asleep at wheel. The fleecing of the wananchi continues unabated. High economic crimes are everywhere you look. These government officials are getting away with murder, literally. It is just a game in Kenya. The more you steal the more you get away with. These cases will disappear like all others. Corruption is rampant in the judiciary and in the entire government. It would be a modern miracle to see any of these conmen jailed. It is just a game. Move over. Nothing to see here. Corrupt country.
Nothing but publicity stunts…
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Nothing but publicity stunts. They’ll be out n continue their corrupt ways as usual
Asleep at wheel. The…
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Asleep at wheel. The fleecing of the wananchi continues unabated. High economic crimes are everywhere you look. These government officials are getting away with murder, literally. It is just a game in Kenya. The more you steal the more you get away with. These cases will disappear like all others. Corruption is rampant in the judiciary and in the entire government. It would be a modern miracle to see any of these conmen jailed. It is just a game. Move over. Nothing to see here. Corrupt country.
And catch and release…
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And catch and release continues.No sentences handed, the drama continues.
Are the tax payers going to…
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Are the tax payers going to get their money back from the defendants?.
I hope the DPP has done his…
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I hope the DPP has done his research properly, this time. You cannot just arrest, and Charge, high profile people, as he did with the Deputy Chief Justice, just to show that you are doing your job. You have to have real evidence, against them. The tricky part is that the 'evidence' is usually in your face, and you either choose to 'see' it, or conveniently not to 'see' it. In this case, the 'Dams' to be constructed are not even in water catchment areas. There are no rivers, just small, seasonal streams. So no Dams can exist here. The DPP needs to concentrate on this fact, as it can easily be proven, and it can be proved that the accused knew this, when giving away 19 billion shillings of Kenyan taxpayers money. He can also accept to be 'trapped', by the Accused's Lawyers, into 'accepting' lines of responsibility. The CS will argue that it is the KVDA which knew about the project. His part was just to give the funds. KVDA on, the other hand, will argue that it was the responsibility of Ministry, to verify the details, before disbursing funds. The truth is that both of them knew what they were doing, and what was going on, and now want to use divide and rule tactics. Will they succeed? Only time will tell.
Some people never learnt…
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Some people never learnt from Biwott and Consequences of Blatant corruption. He is dead anyway.
Rotich has increased taxes…
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Rotich has increased taxes in order to fatten his pockets. Lock him up.
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