- The five accused persons are out on Sh20 million bond.
- They denied 10 charges ranging from conspiracy to commit corruption, mismanagement of public funds and abuse of office.
Image: James Munyua
A court in Nakuru will on November 18 rule whether to admit the prosecution application of audio and visual recordings implicating former Maasai Mara University vice chancellor in the Sh177 million corruption saga.
Prosecutor Terry Kahoro said the recordings will assist the court make sound judgement in the corruption case against Prof Mary Walingo, former deputy vice chancellors Simon Kasaine (administration) and John Almadi (finance), Anaclet Biket, (finance officer) and Noor Hassan (Walingo's driver).
The five accused persons are out on Sh20 million bond.
They denied 10 charges ranging from conspiracy to commit corruption, mismanagement of public funds and abuse of office.
They allegedly between January 24, 2016, and July 19, 2019, at Maasai Mara University in Narok conspired to misappropriate university funds amounting to Sh177,007,754.
Kahoro told Nakuru chief magistrate Bildad Ochieng that the recordings detailed several times Walingo misappropriated the university funds.
She said the recordings were made by former university’s chief finance officer Spenser Sankale in audio and videos on his mobile phone and his watch.
The defence team led by Manwa Hosea objected to the admission of the evidence, informing the court that the recordings obtained by the prosecution team should not be admitted since it was obtained illegally.
Sankale took to the stand on Tuesday informing the court he recorded the accused persons through visual and audio format which he wanted to be admitted to the court records.
He said Walingo approached him in 2016 and demanded that he gives her Sh100,000 with no supporting documents.
“We went to the bank accompanied by the university's two signatories. They withdrew the money and handed it to the VC,” he testified.
Sankale said he was concerned over the withdrawals that were being done without supporting documents which conflicted with his professionalism.
The same year, Sankale said Walingo’s assistant told him to draft other blank cheques amounting to Sh300,000, allegedly meant for security and surveillance.
Sankale said he also withdrew Sh854,952. He said the same had no memo from the security department nor supporting documents.
By November 2016, he said the amount of money had ballooned and no procurement procedures, no internal processes nor legal procedures were followed.
Sankale said he contemplated resigning in January 2017 but changed his mind when he approached his friends, who advised him not to resign to avoid getting blamed for the university’s misfortunes.
“He told me to get evidence by recording the happenings. He told me to get a recording gadget on how the process was occurring and said I instal a call recorder on my phone, which is currently in court,” he said.
Sankale said he purchased a premium version of a call recorder on his phone, bought a recording watch (Diesel) and learnt how to record events.
He said he used the mobile phone and the watch on occasions when there were instructions for money withdrawals.
“I recorded 24 occurrences; audios and videos and I want to produce the same as evidence for them to be played before court,” Sankale said.
However, Walingo’s lawyer and other defence lawyers opposed the application by the defence
Walingo’s lawyer Hosea Manwa said the alleged recordings were illegally obtained evidence and cannot be legally admitted in the court as it breached the evidence act.
“The prosecution has to prove that they complied with the evidence act before the same can be admitted in court,” Manwa said.
Prosecution counsel Kahoro however said the recordings did not touch private areas including home but were strictly done at the workplace.
27 witnesses have been lined up to testify against them.
The heating continues on November 18.
Image: James Munyua