Former Nyeri county officials fined Sh24m for loss of Sh3.7m

FROM LEFT: Former Nyeri county executives John Maina (Lands and Infrastructure) Martin Wamwea (Finance and Economic planning) and Simon Wachira (Chief of Staff) in court yesterday. [PHOTO: MOSE SAMMY/STANDARD]

A Nyeri court has raised the bar in the war against corruption by prescribing what could be the harshest penalty on the crime yet.

Yesterday, the Anti-Corruption Court ordered three former Nyeri county government officials to pay Sh24 million for irregular awarding of a tender worth Sh10 million, leading to the loss of Sh3.75 million.

The three, who were found guilty of the loss of Sh3,756,962 because of their failure to comply with procurement laws and funds management procedures, were each ordered to repay double the amount double the amount the county lost.

John Maina who served as Lands and Infrastructure executive, former Finance and Economic Planning executive Martin Wamwea and former Chief of Staff Simon Wachira were each ordered to refund Sh7.5 million or serve two years in prison.

TENDER UNPROCEDURAL

They were further fined Sh400,000 each or in default be jailed for one year. The sentences will run concurrently.

Chief Magistrate John Onyiego found the three guilty of flouting procurement laws and using their positions to improperly confer Pleng Limited a Sh3.75 million benefit to offer consultancy audit services for roads and civil works.

The court ruled that the award of the tender was unprocedural.

The prosecution, led by Wesley Nyamache charged the trio with six counts of corruption and abuse of office.

Maina was accused of irregularly awarding a consultancy audit service for roads and civil works without the approval of county tender committee and conferring the said contract to Pleng (K) Ltd in total disregard of the tender committee on August 12, 2014.

His co-accused, Wamwea, was charged with improperly authorising payment of Sh3.7 million to the said company and failing to obtain requisite supporting documents before authorising the payment of the funds on December 20, 2014.

Wachira faced two counts of improperly approving payment of the said irregular tender to Pleng and failing to obtain requisite supporting documents before approving the payment on December 16, 2014.

The three had pleaded innocent, insisting that the money was paid out in good faith.

It was their defence that since Pleng was pre-qualified to offer the consultancy services, bypassing the tender committee did not amount to a breach of the law.

But the court held otherwise. Onyiego found that even though a company is pre-qualified, it did not mean that they could pick it unilaterally without tendering.

The magistrate said Pleng should have been invited to competitively bid for the tender before being awarded.

Nyeri County has been on the spotlight over claims of corruption and misappropriation of funds.

Governor Nderitu Gachagua recently fought off an impeachment attempt by the county assembly over claims of improper award of tenders, corruption and misappropriation of funds in his executive.

The court also dismissed claims by Maina that he had been directed to offer the contract to Pleng Limited by the governor.

“As an officer in charge of the docket, he ought to have known that what he was directed to do by his boss was illegal”, Onyiego stated.

The court found that Maina disregarded expert advice and proceeded to award the illegal contract.

“Nobody knows how the figure was arrived at, thus I find it purely willful failure to comply with the law. Accordingly, I find that the prosecution has proved their case beyond reasonable doubt”, the court ruled.