County staff to refund stolen Sh17m in exchange for freedom

Twelve employees of County Government of Bungoma have agreed to refund Sh17 million they misappropriated from the county coffers in exchange for freedom.

The total amount they will pay will, however, increase to Sh25.6 million to include six per cent interest from the time they misappropriated the funds in 2014.

This will be part of the out-of-court settlement they struck with Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) to avoid prosecution.

EACC through lawyer Olga Ochola in its application to have the settlement recorded and adopted as a court order stated that they had several meetings with the employees based on the evidence collected after which they agreed to repay to clear their names.

“The employees admitted liability that they were paid the amounts for trainings which were never held. They have agreed to refund Sh17,358,000 as benefits they illegally received for which the commission also agreed not to take action against them,” said Ochola.

The employees are Howard Logadilu, Joyce Wakhisi, Erastus Mwaka, Ledisha Dorcas, Charles Kamau, Vincent Ngeiywo, Evarest Wafula, Hillary Changwony, Chrispinus Barasa, Paul Masinde, George Ogolla and Oscar Ojwang.