Former Cabinet Secretary Rashid Echesa to Spend Night in Custody over Sh39 Billion Tender Scam

Former Sports Cabinet Secretary Rashid Echesa will spend Thursday night in police cell pending arraignment in court on Friday.

Echesa was arrested by detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) in Nairobi on Thursday morning and was taken to DCI headquarters, where he was interrogated for several hours over fraud allegations.

He is accused of faking a Sh39 billion tender for the supply of military equipment in the name of the Office of the Deputy President, Citizen TV reported.

Echesa, who was sacked by President Kenyatta in March 2019, was arrested alongside his accomplices Daniel Otieno Omondi, Kennedy Oyoo and Clifford Okoth.

Detectives are seeking to find out whether Echesa and his co-accused colluded with other government officers in the scheme and whether they forged one of the Cabinet Secretaries’ signatures contained in the fake tender documents.

The four are said to have already received an advance payment of Sh11.5 million from their victims.

After their questioning, the suspects were taken to Muthaiga Police Station, where they will spend the night before being paraded in court on Friday.