8 officials from the Kenya Ports Authority(KPA) have been arrested over alleged fraud involving a Ksh.62 million tender in Mombasa.
The suspected officials were arrested by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) detectives based in Mombasa. They were arraigned in a Mombasa court where they denied charges against them.
According to the lead investigator, the suspects executed a fraudulent scheme to embezzle public funds through a tender awarded to a company they owned.
“They will be charged with conflict of interest, fraudulent acquisition of public property, and forgery of the documents used in the scam,” EACC stated before their arraignment.
Other charges include obtaining contract from a public institution by false pretence,uttering a false document and willful failure to comply with procurement laws.
The accused are: head of procurement and supplies at KPA, Yobesh Oyaro-Former, KPA Evaluation committee, David Angwenyi-Member, Norah Mugambi-Member of the Evaluation committee, Athanase Wambari- Member of the Evaluation committee and Robert Bosuben who is a Senior Clerical officer at the civil Engineering Department.
Others are Azenath Kwamboka Mageto-Agent of Chemiso East Africa, Rose Cherotich-Account signatory of Chemiso East Africa and Idd Arube Nanyang- Agent of Chemiso East Africa.
The commission is yet to release a detailed statement on how the officials were linked to the graft case, whether they used proxies to access the funds and how the preliminary probe was conducted. The detectives are believed to have followed money trails of the suspects before arresting them
It stated that it looks forward to recovering the money lost through the official’s fraud scheme.
EACC on January 23 launched a crackdown on government officials accused of using fake certificates to land state jobs. Speaking in Kisumu recently after meeting with Governor Anyang’ Nyong’o, EACC chairperson Bishop David Oginde clarified that all salaries paid, and money issued from the exchequer budget will be recovered.
“When the long arm of the law finally catches up with you,we shall recover all the money you got through that process,” Oginde commented.