Governor Lenolkulal released on Sh100m cash bail

Samburu Governor Moses Lenolkulal has been released on a bond of Sh150 million and a surety of the same amount of an alternative of Sh100 million cash bail.

He was earlier on Tuesday charged with four counts of abuse of office and conflict of interest leading to the loss of Sh84.6 million public funds.

Lenolkulal denied all the charges.

The bail amount is one of the highest ever slapped on a graft suspect by the Judiciary.

President Uhuru Kenyatta has been on record accusing the Judiciary of granting “abnormal bails, strange orders and long periods cases taking place in the courts”.

Uhuru said some orders have cost the taxpayer billions of shillings and derailed development.

The county boss is accused of using his company - Oryx service station - to supply petrol and diesel to the county.

The prosecution did not oppose bail, but had wanted restrictions imposed against the normal functioning of the governor and the 13 others co-accused.

They wanted the governor denied access to county offices for a period of 24 months and director of Ifmis asked to suspend access rights for all the 14 accused.

Lenolkulal was arrested on Tuesday morning by EACC over Sh2 billion he is suspected to have looted from the county coffers.

DPP Noordin Haji gave the nod for the arrest of the Samburu Governor on Monday night.

The governor is said to have failed and or neglected to disclose his interest in the said service station.

"It is clear that the governor engaged in conduct that is expressly prohibited in law and in clear violation of the constitutional principles governing the conduct of public state officers," Haji said in a statement on Tuesday morning.