Kenya Water Towers Agency chairperson Rashid Echesa has found himself on the wrong side of the law after Milimani High Court Judge overturned his acquittal in the Kshs39 billion fake arms case.

The former cabinet secretary for sports had been cleared of the charges in December 2021 after  the magistrate found him not guilty of the charges. Senior Principal Magistrate Kenneth Cheruiyot  said the prosecution had failed to prove its case against the accused.

The prosecution failed to call key witnesses. Who would have shed light on how the arms deal was clinched. In the absence of such testimony against Echesa, I acquit him under Section 215 of the Criminal Procedure Code,” he ruled then.

In an appeal by the prosecution on the acquittal,  High Court Judge Kanyi Kimondo  however ruled that the trial magistrate made a mistake by acquitting Echesa. According to him, the magistrate should have found Echesa with a case to answer rather than acquitting him as the prosecution had presented a strong case against him.

Judge Kanyi directed the ex-sport’S Cs to appear in person before the Milimani Chief Magistrate on March 4, for a mention and directions on his defence hearing in the fake arms case.

Echesa was accused of conspiracy to commit a felony by making a false documents with the intent to defraud. The documents were allegedly used in a fake tender deal to supply the government with military surveillance equipment, guns, and ammunition.

He’d also been accused of  duping Eco Advanced Technologies by promising to help them secure an arms tender at the Ministry of Defense, and allegedly accused of pocketing Sh11.5 million as consultancy fees.

His co-accused were Daniel Otieno, Clifford Okoth, Kennedy Oyoo and Chrispin Oduor Odipo.

The accusers who were  foreigners from the US and Poland-based company claimed that the ex-CS had allegedly promised to use his influence to help them secure the multi-billion-shilling security tender.