• Money trail shows governor received irregular tender cash.
• EACC says contractors are close Waititu associates.
Image: VICTOR IMBOTO
Details have emerged showing how Kiambu Governor Ferdinand Waititu worked his way through an intricate web to amass Sh25.6 million in kickbacks from a roads tender.
A dossier exclusively obtained by the Star shows a meticulous effort to transfer the money in small amounts ostensibly to beat checks in the banking system.
Waititu was charged with knowingly acquiring an indirect interest to receive the amount of money in respect of payments to Testimony Enterprises for contracts awarded by the county government.
The money trail shows that part of the Sh221.5 million already paid out in the irregular Sh588 million tender was deposited in accounts registered under the governor’s businesses.
EACC believes that Testimony, whose director Charles Chege was bailed out at Sh15 million in the graft case, was the main conduit through which the money was siphoned.
On Tuesday, magistrate Lawrence Mugambi granted Waititu Sh15 million cash bail but imposed tough bail terms, including barring him from accessing his office.
His wife was freed on Sh4 million cash bail while the other accused persons were released on Sh1 million cash bail ahead of the August 26 mention.
The irregular tender was issued when the county procured firms to upgrade roads in the county to bitumen standards.
From Testimony, Sh6 million was wired to Lake Naivasha Resort and the same was later forwarded to the governor, the dossier shows.
Another Sh8.4 million was wired by Testimony to Saika Two Estate Developers – a firm which the EACC has linked to the governor and his daughter. The company wired another Sh4 million to the real estate firm.
Chege’s company, co-owned with his wife Beth Wangeci, further took up Sh134 million out of which Sh2 million was wired to Waititu’s Bien Venue Hotel, which he runs together with his wife Susan Wangari.
Bien Ventures also received Sh5.21 million from Testimony in the transactions executed between July 2018 and March 13, 2019. Waititu and his wife bought the hotel from Lake Naivasha Resort.
The money trail reveals that Chege expended Sh87 million from Testimony in what investigators say was through cash withdrawals – ostensibly for other involved parties, among other suspicious interbank transfers.
Waititu has been barred from accessing his office, a situation that has catapulted his deputy James Nyoro to the county top seat in acting capacity.
“We are keen on having all the monies recovered and the perpetrators of the scheme held accountable,” an EACC official who sought anonymity told the Star.
The money trail further reveals that Testimony also received another Sh20 million from other sources.
“Our interest is in the monies that were expended from the Kiambu county government development vote. We can only review others just in case they are linked to our case against the governor,” the source said.
Even as the case continues, there are arguments that the order issued by magistrate Mugambi did not necessarily bar the governor from executing his duties.
Waititu’s lawyer Tom Ojienda argued that the governor can continue running the county from remote locations.
“The ruling did not stop him from being governor. A governor does not necessarily need an office to do his work,” he told journalists on Monday.
Magistrate Mugambi equally held that the ruling did not amount to the governor being removed from office but to ensure the court process is protected.
However, his situation has been made grave with the recent ruling by Justice Mumbi Ngugi that any state officer charged with financial impropriety must step aside.
DPP Noordin Haji yesterday warned that any county officer who takes orders or any form of instructions from the deposed governor would be punished.
He told the Star yesterday the directive on state officers implicated in graft stepping aside is in line with the constitutional provisions on integrity of public officers.
“In the West, anyone implicated in corruption scandals steps aside without being asked. In our case, people don’t budge no matter how grave the charges they face. This is why the law has to guide and enforce this,” Haji said.
“We are not joking. The fight against corruption will go the long way. It is not political but an effort to restore that which Kenyans have lost in the corruption deals,” the DPP said.