Adan Harakhe charged with abuse of office in NYS scam

Former National Youth Service deputy director general Adan Harakhe has been charged with abuse of office over a Sh47 million tender.

Mr Harakhe was charged alongside Devolution ministry senior secretary Hassan Noor with various counts of conspiracy to defraud public funds, abuse of office and failing to follow the right procedure in awarding the contracts to Bluestar Enterprises Ltd.

The two surrendered themselves to court after a warrant of arrest was issued against them on Friday for failing to appear to answer to the charges.

But they accused the Director of Public Prosecutions of lying to court to obtain the warrant of arrest, stating that they had earlier agreed that they would be charged on a different date and not Friday last week.

"They were not told to appear in court on the day their co-accused were charged since there was an undertaking from the prosecution that they will be summoned to appear on another day," said their lawyer Ahmednassir Abdullahi.

Senior Principal Magistrate Felix Kombo agreed with their submission and lifted the warrant of arrest and ordered that they be refunded Sh50,000 that had each forfeited to the State for failing to turn up in court.

In the first count, Harakhe and Mr Noor were charged with conspiracy to commit an economic crime where it was alleged that they unlawfully paid Bluestar Enterprises Sh47 million for provision of specialised equipment. They denied all the charges and were released on a Sh3 million bond.