• Tender was issued in October, Mturi-Wairi had been fired in May.
• Twelve out of 16 summoned officials have been questioned.
Image: FILE
The anti-graft agency yesterday questioned former Kenya Ports Authority managing director Catherine Mturi-Wairi over the tendering of the Sh40 billion Kipevu Oil Terminal.
Mturi-Wairi, who was sacked in May last year for alleged non-performance, said she had read about the EACC summonses in newspapers.
“I have just come because I saw something in the papers today. It is my duty as a law-abiding citizen when you are requested to appear by an arm of the government, you appear,” she told the press before the interrogation at the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission Mombasa offices.
“This is not my first time to appear here. I have come here three or four times before. It behoves to come and share the light on what I know on that investigation," Mturi-Wairi said.
The first-ever woman MD at KPA said the tendering for the construction of the terminal was done in October when she had left the organisation.
“I left towards the end of May last year and apparently the tender was in October. I have no idea what they want, therefore I cannot say much.”
Lower Coast EACC deputy director Japheth Baithalu said they expected the interrogation to last five hours. By late last evening, Mturi-Wairi was still being grilled.
Baithalu said they are investigating how the initial cost of the project rose from Sh12 billion to Sh40 billion.
The current MD, Daniel Manduku, was expected before the EACC today, but he is said to be out of the country.
“We expect him to also come and shed light on this tendering. Remember, we have not summoned any person as a suspect; we just need information from them,” Baithalu said.
EACC has summoned 16 senior KPA staff. Twelve have been questioned.
The interrogations kicked off on April 4, when engineer Rashid Salim, Adza Dzengo and Geoffrey Kavete were grilled.
On April 5, Captain William Ruto, engineer Dan Amadi, Margaret Shayo and Beatrice Ratemo were questioned.
Captain Geoffrey Namadoa, Raymond Warr, Miguel Pires and William Tenay were questioned on April 8.
Anthony Nyamacha and Yobesh Oyaro were to appear on April 9.
“Majority of those who were summoned have cooperated. They came in and wrote their statements," the EACC deputy boss said.
"We cannot say they are suspects or witnesses, but we all know that the amount involved is quite enormous. If this money was indeed lost, then it will be a very big scandal," Baithalu said.
(Edited by Rosemary Wamochie)