Detectives fly to Mombasa for further statements from CS’ in Sh65 billion dams saga

Parliamentary Committee on Environment from left Kinango Mp Benjamin Tayari,Kasipul Mp Charles Ongondo Were and Kipkelion west Mp Hillary Kosgei at Itare Dam in Kuresoi North on March 23,2019. [Photo/Kipsang Joseph]

Detectives yesterday flew to Mombasa to seek statements from various parties named in the probe into a multi-billion shilling tender awarded to an Italian firm to construct two dams.

Officers at the Directorate of Criminal Investigations said they wanted to get additional statements from Devolution Cabinet Secretary Eugene Wamalwa who was at a presidential function.

Other sources said the sleuths grilled workers at a private construction site linked to a prominent Jubilee politician following claims that the developer had received materials bought with money paid to the Italian contractor.

Last month, some of the suppliers of goods and services to CMC di Ravenna had given a list of places where they delivered the said materials, including in Nairobi, Eldoret and Mombasa.

“The officers who went to Mombasa this morning (yesterday) are meeting a manager at a construction site to get clarification on some issues that implicated the developer,” said a source aware of the probe.

Among the materials supplied are cutlery, tiles, towels, assorted alcoholic drinks, mattresses and curtains, raising questions if they were also intended for the construction of Arror and Kimwarer dams in Elgeyo Marakwet County.

The detectives sought Mr Wamalwa one day after his Cabinet colleagues - Adan Mohamed, Peter Munya and Mwangi Kiunjuri - recorded statements at the DCI headquarters.

Other sources indicated that an individual who had recorded a statement produced a voice recording of people he said tried to force him to facilitate what he deemed dubious payments.

Yesterday, former Planning Principal Secretary Irungu Nyakera appeared before detectives in Nairobi and denied any knowledge about the dams deal being signed.

Detectives handling the investigation said they were in their final stages of the probe and indicated that those being questioned were witnesses.

All past and present principal secretaries from the time the projects were conceptualised have also been summoned and questioned.

Pay kickbacks

Former Attorney General Githu Muigai was last Friday grilled on his role in the saga. He told the officers his advise was ignored.

Detectives are investigating claims that money paid to CMC di Ravenna, which is in financial distress, was used to pay kickbacks.

The National Treasury said Sh21 billion had already been paid to the contractor and Italian insurance firm, Sace.

Detectives have already questioned Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich four times, several suppliers of various goods and services, and top managers of the Kerio Valley Development Authority (KVDA). They have also handed a preliminary report to Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Noordin Haji.

Officials from the Attorney General and Solicitor General’s chambers, who handled the dams contracts before the money was paid, have also been questioned.

The DPP had asked police to also investigate the tendering process, as well as the discrepancies in the identities of the parties that bid for the projects and those who won the tenders.

Investigators will also inquire into why the designs for the dams were being done ‘post-fact’, meaning after contracts were signed and payments made.

The sleuths have also been tasked to look into the involvement of a large number of Government officials in the process, which introduced a political angle to the probe.

Police have also seized cars that were bought for the project but were diverted elsewhere. The assorted vehicles were seized from yards in Nairobi and Nakuru after it emerged they were registered under different names and had been diverted to the Itare Dam project in Nakuru.