Nairobi County Assembly clears MCA Jayendra Malde of Sh5.7 million graft allegations

Parklands MCA Jayendra Malde when he was arrested by EACC operatives last year. [File, Standard]

The Nairobi County Assembly has cleared parklands MCA Jayendra Malde of Sh5.7 million graft allegations.

In August 2018, the MCA was arrested by officers from the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission over allegations that he had been demanding for bribes from the owner of Concord Hotel, Mr Rahim Chatur, to forestall the demolition of the hotel allegedly sitting on riparian land.

It was also claimed that the money was to benefit members of the Justice and Legal affairs committee in which Mr Malde is the chair.

But a County Powers and Privileges committee on Thursday exonerated the MCA and all members of the sectoral committee on Justice and Legal Affairs from the allegations, saying that there was no evidence produced showing that Mr Malde received the amount of Sh5.7 million.

In a report tabled and adopted on the floor of the house, Powers and Privileges committee chairman Naftaly Mathenge observed that every witness who appeared before the committee for grilling denied ever having received any amount of money from the owner of Concord Hotel, Mr Chatur.

The report further states that when Mr Chatur appeared before the committee, he confessed that he never gave any money to MCA Malde and neither did he know whose money was shown on social media and to members of the fourth estate when the EACC handcuffed the parklands ward representative.

Mr Chatur also told the committee that he was not aware of who called the EACC on the MCA.

“In the absence of expert voice analysis to ascertain the veracity of the recordings, it is not possible for the committee to determine that indeed it was Hon. Malde soliciting for bribes in the audio recordings presented before the committee,” said Mathenge while tabling the report.

Adding, “it is difficult to ascertain the extent of involvement of members of the sectoral committee on Justice and Legal Affairs in the bribery claims, as no evidence was tabled showing either their direct or indirect involvement save for media reports linking the larger committee membership to bribery claims, a fact reiterated by Mr Chatur who denied ever giving money to committee members.”