WHEN HUNTED TURNS HUNTER: National Olympics Council of Kenya Treasurer has been set free

National Olympic Committee of Kenya (NOCK) treasurer Fridah Bilha Mulwale Shiroya at milimani law courts in Nairobi on August 31 2016 in connection to the Rio 2016 Olympics scandal which saw several athletes miss tickets, accreditation documents and others stranded in Brazil days after the closing ceremony of the competitions.PHOTO DAVID NJAAGA/STANDARD}

National Olympics Council of Kenya (NOCK) treasurer Fridah Bilha Mulwe Shiroya is now a State witness in a case against her colleagues.

Shiroya, who was expected to take plea along with Vice-Chairman Pius Ochieng, Secretary General, Francis Kinyili Paul and Head of Mission Stephen arap Soi, was yesterday made a prosecution witness and allegations against her withdrawn immediately.

The prosecution told the trial court that Shiroya had co-operated with the investigators during an entire 21 days.

However, Prosecutor Dancun Ondimu said the remaining suspects are expected to take plea before the trial court today morning.
Shiroya had earlier been released on a Sh200,000 cash bail pending the conclusion of investigations that took 21 days, an amount that will now be refunded to her.

On August 31, Milimani Senior Principal Magistrate Charity Oluoch released Shiroya on bail, claiming the prosecution failed to provide enough reasons to warrant her detention pending the completion of investigations.

“The suspect should report to the Director of Criminal Investigation offices twice a week for 19 days for further investigations,” said Oluoch.

She had also been ordered to deposit her travel documents to court and not to access NOCK offices because they are under investigations.

The prosecution had sought to detain the suspect for 21 days, claiming they had not completed the investigations.

RIO 2016 OLYMPICS

Prosecutor Ondimu said Shiroya, who was arrested on August 30, is said to have been part of the delegation to Rio 2016 Olympics.

“The investigations relate several offences, which include, among others theft, abuse of office and neglect of official duties,” said Ondimu.

He added that on August 25 the team of investigators conducted a search at the premises of NOCK but they did not search the office of Shiroya.

Ondimu added they had received information Shiroya has a shop within Nairobi County that sells among other items sportswear and it was  suspected some of the items were in the said shop and there was need to conduct a search.

The prosecutor added that pursuant to the search conducted at the NOCK offices, a number of items were seized which included computers (hard disks), several documents related to Rio Olympics games and sports kits believed to have been meant for the Kenya team to the Rio Olympics.

“The computers being seized are being analysed for the purpose of forensic examination and results obtained and the documents which were seized are under investigations,” said Ondimu.

He added that they want to investigate the possible offences of theft of uniforms for the Kenya Team Rio, abuse of office and neglect of duty and investigations will include other Government agencies.