Two CSs among 22 DCI wants charged over dam scandal

Two Cabinet secretaries and three principal secretaries are among 22 people whom the DCI wants charged over the Sh21 billion Arror and Kimwarer dams scandal.

The Star yesterday reliably learnt the investigations were completed as recently as two weeks ago, however, the arrests have been put on hold due to a vicious push and pull and sabotage within the government.

A group of MPs, allied to a senior Cabinet official, have obtained a secret dossier implicating a prominent figure close to State House. The group is now using this documentation as leverage to slow down the arrests of those implicated.

Interviews by the Star revealed that the public interest probe had slowed after a State House official asked the DCI to freeze the arrests.

The Uasin Gishu dams probe split the Jubilee Party right in the middle, with Deputy President William Ruto and his allies accusing DCI chief George Kinoti of being used to wage a political war.

“Selective prosecution targeting predetermined individuals and projects, and steamrolled by a narrative of convenient lies and falsehood and propaganda, is not a fight against corruption. It’s impunity, it’s politics, and it’s headed in the wrong direction,” Ruto thundered on March 9.

A month later, as President Uhuru Kenyatta delivered the State of the nation address, he warned against what he termed vigilante justice.

“I must say that I have been under pressure…[over] who am I sacking,” he said.

“I must, however, caution that the pursuit of the corrupt will be undertaken strictly within the remits of the law —and not through vigilante justice and pitchfork protest,” Uhuru stated

The Star has established that by the time the 'orders from above' came stopping the arrests, the complex investigations that involved other countries, especially Italy and the UK were complete

Officers from DCI's Serious Crime Unit, who were working with officials from the office of the DPP, had agreed on the names of suspects to be charged as well as lists of witnesses.

“The investigators and five state counsels attached to the case had agreed on all issues and declared that the investigations were complete,” a senior source told the Star.

 Yesterday, DCI insiders claimed the investigations had lost momentum as some politicians from Rift valley and Central region succeeded in their effort to slow or prevent the arrests.

These politicians are reportedly using an investigation pending in parliament in which some senior government official are said to be involved.

Some of the information that the MPs have used to blackmail the State House official is their plan to investigate an alleged police insurance scandal. That official and another top officer in the office of the President are said to be involved.

It is not clear if other big names were implicated in the police insurance scandal.

The Parliamentary Accounts Committee had recommended that then-Interior PS Monica Juma be investigated and prosecuted for irregularly awarding the two-year tender to the highest bidder — Pioneer Assurance Company Limited — at Sh1.75 billion.

However, two weeks ago, PAC cleared Juma after discovering the tender was executed during the tenure of ex-PS Mutea Iringo.

“The committee observed that the matter was considered by the House and that the accounting officer in the financial year under review (2014-15) was Mr Mutea Iringo, not ambassador Dr Monica Juma,” the report says.

On April 24 Kiharu MP Ndindi Nyoro said in Parliament, “We will now demand answers over the police insurance scandal in the Office of the President.”

Nyoro, a member of the Parliamentary Accounts Committee, said MPs will be demanding to know why a company with the highest quotation was awarded a tender for police insurance, yet there was another qualified company that had quoted a considerably lower figure.

This impending investigation, according to the sources, is among those that some MPs, but not Nyoro, have used to scuttle the dams probe.

Yesterday, Nyoro told the Star that the investigations would be based on reports by the Auditor General.

He said he was not aware that some wheeler-dealers were using the probe to scuttle prosecutions in the dam scandal.

Initial plans by the DCI chief George Kinoti were to round up the suspects on the eve of the Easter holidays, lock them up and present them in court a day after the Easter break.

The Star has been seeking DCI chief Kinoti for a comment on the latest developments for the last week.

He was yet to respond to calls and text messages by last evening.

“The investigations are complete and we have even tied up the loose ends by recording further statements from those we wanted to be charged. What was remaining was the aspect of MLA (Mutual Legal Assistance), which could not have stopped the prosecutions," an officer familiar with the probe said.

Investigations into the two unbuilt dams have dragged in powerful names.

They include an influential member of the Cabinet said to have telephoned Trade CS Peter Munya twice and attempted to exert pressure on him to sign documents to release an additional Sh4 billion.

A principal secretary is also reported to have tried to pressure Munya into signing the documents but the CS refused.

Munya declined to sign the documents as he was new to the ministry and had observed there was a lot of pressure from “people” he thought had vested interests in the dams, investigators have said.

The Star earlier reported the pressure on Munya, his suspicions and his refusal.

n two occasions, the PS had walked into his office and asked if he had signed the documents.

This made Munya suspicious and he decided not to sign the documents.

Instead, Munya wrote to Treasury chief Henry Rotich directing that no funds should be released for the construction of the Arror and Kimwarer dams.

The insider details were revealed to DCI investigators on Tuesday by Munya, the Trade and Industrialisation CS, when he recorded statements with the police over the Sh21 billion dams scandal.

Kinoti was earlier expected to give new directives on the investigations after the top government official was sucked into the scam.

Kinoti was expected to, among other things, give directive on whether the top chief would be questioned by the police.

It is alleged that after Munya delivered the letter to Treasury with instructions that no money should be released, the top official called him and asked why he had declined to sign the documents.

The top official is also said to have directed the CS to keep the matter a secret, saying it should be dealt with "within government".