Nandi Hills MP Alfred Keter and two others were yesterday arrested for allegedly forging Treasury bills valued at Sh633 million.
The youthful, outspoken MP was arrested alongside two co-directors of Desai Industries - Madat Chatur and Arthur Sakwa.
The three were arrested by Banking Fraud Investigation Unit detectives and whisked away to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations headquarters at the Central Bank of Kenya offices in Nairobi.
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He first tried to hide his face from cameras even as he loudly
denied the allegations. Handcuffed and deprived of the dignity MPs crave, a visibly subdued Keter claimed he had gone to “assist” Chatur and Sakwa before he was set up.
“I just came to assist you then you put me in your mess. Then why is the media here? This is a set up,” he said. His accomplices remained silent during the arrest.
It is said they had gone to meet CBK governor Patrick Njoroge with their lawyer in the process of redeeming the bills they claimed to have bought
two decades ago
According to the CBK, investigations revealed the Terasury bills
were fraudulent and detectives invited them into Njoroge’s office, where they were nabbed.
“They presented a set of forged Treasury bills which were purportedly issued by the CBK
a number of years ago. The bills are worth Sh633 million and this matter is what has led to these arrests because these were forged Treasury bills,” CBK director of communications Wallace Kantai said.
Keter’s attempts to address the media were cut short by Kantai who insisted the issue was under investigation. The sleuths led him into a waiting van as photo journalists trained their cameras on him.
In 2015, Keter was captured on camera when he caused drama at the Gilgil weigh bridge after demanding the highway authorities and police manning the weigh bridge release a trailer detained for breach of traffic rules.
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He was later charged together with former nominated MP Sunjeev Birdi who owned the lorry.
Correspondences availed by the CBK indicate that in July 2017, Desai Industries wrote to the CBK requesting to liquidate Treasury bills valued at Sh633 million.
Response from the CBK on August 4 indicated the bills were not outstanding and unpaid as stated by Desai.
Further, the CBK advised the
documents in question appeared inauthentic leading to an investigation of
the matter.
A combined multi-agency team came together for a verification exercise and the bills were found to be forged.