Ex-Pipeline boss freed in Sh644m corruption case

Former Kenya Pipeline managing director Charles Tanui. [File, Standard]

The Anti-corruption Court has acquitted former Kenya Pipeline managing director Charles Tanui and fifteen others over charges of conspiring to defraud the parastatal of Sh644 million for lack of evidence.

Chief Magistrate Felix Kombo freed Tanui and his co-accused persons on the conspiracy charge stating that the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that they committed the offence.

While acquitting them, Kombo noted that conspiracy cannot exist without there being an agreement between those accused.

"l find that there was no evidence within their distinct roles that the accused persons had a shared intention to defraud the Kenya Pipeline Company millions of money over the tender for supply of hydrant valves," he ruled.

Loss of public funds

The suspects were charged in December 2018 over the loss of public funds in the procurement of 58 hydrant pit valves to replace faulty ones at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.

Tanui and others had been accused of conspiring with two companies Aero Dispenser Valves Limited and Allied Inspection and Testing Limited to inflate the cost of supply and maintenance of hydrant valves from the budgeted amount of Sh390 million to Sh644 million.

The magistrate, however, found Tanui's co-accused person Philip Kimelu as well as John Huba and Beryl Aluoch, who were charged as directors of Aero Dispenser Valves Ltd, the company which was awarded the inflated contract, have a case to answer on other fraud-related charges.