A court will issue its verdict on the Sh55 million Rio Olympic case after May 27 when parties are expected to highlight their submissions.
Anti-corruption magistrate Elizabeth Juma directed parties in the case to file their submissions before the date when the court will hear the matter. Once the submissions are highlighted, the court will set a date for judgment.
In the case, former Sports CS Hassan Wario is charged alongside former sports officials Haron Chebet Komen, Patrick Nkabu, Francis Paul Richard Ekai and Stephen Soi.
Wario is accused of improperly facilitating six individuals’ travel expenses to Rio Olympics, causing loss of public funds worth Sh5,846,346.
The individuals include Adan Enow and James Singh, said to have pocketed Sh1,506,391. Others are Richard Bura and Monica Sairo, who allegedly got Sh918,391. Eunice Kerich and Samuel Njuguna each took home Sh498,391.
Last year, the court found the accused have a case to answer after the prosecution called 28 witnesses. The accused are now at the stage of defending themselves.
During the defence hearing, former NOCK official Stephen Soi denied claims by the Director of Criminal Investigations that his wife, Juliet Maritim, travelled to Brazil using air tickets meant for the Rio Olympics participants.
Soi told the magistrate that his wife flew using her own resources. She spent Sh340,000 and stayed at a private hotel and not the Olympic village, he said.
“My wife travelled to Rio so that we could celebrate my birthday on August 21, 2016, because since 2008, we had not celebrated as a family,” Soi said.
The 2016 mission chief was defending himself against accusations of giving out air tickets to undeserving persons. He is among National Olympic Committee officials implicated in the Sh55 million corruption scandal that rocked team Kenya in Brazil.
-Edited by SKanyara
