Two former senior Siaya County officials and a contractor have been charged over allegations of participating in a Sh22.5 million fraud.
Former County Secretary Kepher Marube, Tobias Odongo and Arysterico Muhinda are said to have committed the offense between May 2014 and June 2015.
The trio, however, denied the charges that were read before Chief Magistrate Julius Ngar Ngar and were released on a Sh2 million bond each with an alternative of a Sh500, 000 cash bail.
The court heard that the Marube alongside the employees of a company named MU-salem Company conspired to commit an offense of corruption through an improper award of a tender for the construction of a prefabricated building at a cost of Sh22.5 million.
Two of the suspects are also facing corruption charges in a separate case in which they have been implicated over an award of Sh14 million tender.
Wednesday, Jared Sala, a lawyer representing the suspects asked the court to grant the suspects lenient bond terms arguing that they have been cooperating with the court in the separate case.
“We are asking the prosecution to supply us with copies of the documents they are seeking to rely as well as any other relevant material they want to use in the case,” said Sala.
He also asked the magistrate to give the suspects the same bonds that were issued in the pending fraud case which started last year.
In his ruling, however, Ngar Ngar directed that the case be heard on April 17 and set the bond terms at Sh2 million.
Earlier on, the suspects had spent several hours at the offices of the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission, (EACC) after being arrested by detectives where they were grilled by detectives.
Two other suspects who have been implicated in the case are also expected to be charged in the case.
The case will go through a pre-trial on April 17.
In the separate case in which Marube and Odongo have also been implicated in, the two have been accused of irregularly executing a contract between the county government and Samco Traders for Sh14.9 million.
The tender was supposed to facilitate the purchase, supply and installation of assorted sports facilities.
According to the charge sheet, Marube is also accused of abusing his office by awarding the tender.
