NYS staffer threatens to sue EACC over links with Embu hotel in Sh2b probe

Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission(EACC) Head Office in Nairobi. [File, Standard] A senior National Youth Service (NYS) employee has threatened to sue the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) over links to an ongoing Sh2 billion probe. While denying links with a hotel in Embu raided last week by the anti-graft agency, David Mbogo Muthee, who is the head of Procurement at the NYS Training School in Gilgil, said rather than conducting genuine investigations in the said probe, the commission is engaged in recycling allegations for purposes of public sensationalism and reputational damage. In a letter seen by The Standard dated April 20, Mbogo, through his lawyer Makori and Karimi Advocates, said EACC should retract the statement linking him to the probe, desist from further misrepresentation, and offer him an apology within seven days by issuing a public statement on X (Twitter), with equal prominence to the early posts. "Take notice that in default, we have firm instructions to institute proceedings seeking a declaration of constitutional violations, injunctive relief, and for damages for reputational injury and defamation," read part of the letter, adding, "This action shall be taken without further reference to you and all such proceedings shall be at your peril as to costs and incidental consequences." EACC on Friday last week announced it had conducted a raid at the Mavvel hotel, allegedly linked to Mbogo and his associate, Mr Naftali Kiperu. The agency said the operation yielded evidentiary material to support investigations into suspected conflict of interest and abuse of office involving senior NYS officials. "The operation, carried out pursuant to a court order, targeted Mr David Mbogo Muthee, Head of Procurement at the NYS Training School in Gilgil, and his associate, Mr Naftali Kiperu," EACC said in a statement. The agency added, "The Commission is investigating allegations of conflict of interest and abuse of office involving several senior NYS officials who are suspected to have traded with the NYS through various companies, resulting in payments totaling approximately Sh2 billion between the 2019/2020 and 2024/2025 financial years." Upon conclusion of the inquiry, EACC said the findings will inform appropriate action, including the prosecution of any culpable persons and/or the recovery of unexplained wealth and proceeds of corruption. But in his response, Mr Mbogo wrote to the agency, accusing it of a smear campaign and failure to conclude investigations that began in May last year. He accused EACC's head of investigations and procurement bosses of continuing to make persistent, erroneous, and highly prejudicial statements in relation to him. "These assertions, as we shall demonstrate, are false, misleading, and made in reckless disregard of facts already within your possession," the letter read in part. The letter read, "We state at the outset that the conduct of the Commission, taken cumulatively and over time, amounts to a deliberate and sustained pattern of harassment, misrepresentation, and abuse of investigative powers." Adding, "This assertion is entirely false, misleading, and unsupported by any evidence whatsoever, and is particularly egregious given that your Commission has at all material times had documentation relating to the Hotel, including a CR12 (attached) clearly demonstrating that our client holds no ownership interest in the said entity." Mbogo's lawyers claimed that his co-accused, Naftali Kiberu, is the sole director and shareholder of The Mavvel Place Limited. While accusing the agency of unlawfully targeting and harassing his client, the lawyer questioned why EACC had resorted to getting a parallel search warrant from a Nyeri court, yet the matter was pending at Milimani law courts in Nairobi, where a similar warrant had been lifted. "Warrants were obtained from the Magistrates Court at Milimani with the alleged offences forming the basis of your investigations stated to have occurred between January 2017 and March 2025, a period during which our client was, as stated above, not in office and had no control, authority or involvement whatsoever," the lawyer posed. To him, Mr Mbogo served as Head of Supply Chain Management at the National Youth Service for a period of only twenty-one (21) days from 17th April 2025 to 7th May 2025, a fact that is now well within EACC's knowledge, supported and demonstrated by his Letter of posting, yet he is under investigation for procurement irregularities of over 10 years. The lawyer further said his client was not involved in the procurement during the period under review and that, in case no audit has raised queries over the transactions, while his predecessor had recorded statements with EACC on the tendering process. "This limited tenure is critical, as the allegations your Commission seeks to advance relate to a period extending outside this timeframe that is the year 2017 to March 2025, during which our client neither held office nor exercised any authority over the matters now under investigation," he said. In a manner identical to the present instance, the lawyer said EACC sought to link his client to the premises known as Mavvel Hotel last Friday and to the alleged loss of public funds, going so far as to assert or imply that he is the owner of the said Hotel. "The publications made by your Commission in May 2025 and April 2026 are materially identical, and further, no new facts have been disclosed. This demonstrates that the Commission is not engaged in genuine investigation, but rather in recycling allegations for purposes of public sensationalism and reputational damage," the lawyer said.

NYS staffer threatens to sue EACC over links with Embu hotel in Sh2b probe

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