Kipchoge Keino is no longer a suspect but a witness in the Rio Olympic scandal.He was among those whose prosecution was ordered by Director of Public Prosecution Noordin Haji for the alleged misappropriation of Sh 55 million meant for the 2016 Rio Summer Olympic games.
Keino is a retired Kenyan track and field athlete who was the chairman of the Kenya Olympic committee until 29th September 2017 but was caught up in the Rio Olympic saga .
Kenya’s ambassador to Austria Hassan Wario and athletics legend Kipchoge Keino were on Thursday questioned for hours after they turned themselves to police over the Rio Olympics scandal.
Also questioned and processed for arraignment were former director of administration Haron Komen and former finance officer Patrick Kimithi Nkabu in the sports ministry.
They were released on bond ahead of Friday’s planned arraignment in Nairobi. Police indicated they would turn Keino to a witness in the Sh 55 million scandal after Police according to Standard reports learnt that Keino never signed documents. The four had reported to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) headquarters at about 5:30 am to beat a court deadline. They were also accompanied by lawyer Cecil Miller when they arrived.
Wario arrived from Vienna on Wednesday evening ahead of the session with police. Keino was also away in Mexico. After arriving at the DCI the three were taken in for processing. Their fingerprints were taken before they were informed they were under arrest. They were later released on bond and told to turn up in court today to formally take plea. Anti-Corruption Court magistrate Douglas Ogoti on Monday directed them to present themselves to the DCI by 6 am Thursday, failing which warrants of arrest would be issued against them.
Ogoti also ordered that the four appear before him on Friday at 8.30 am to take plea on mismanagement of funds charges. Wario is a former Sports Cabinet Secretary. He is expected to face six counts of abuse of office while Keino will face one count.
The prosecution said the former CS improperly conferred a benefit to six individuals by financing their travel to the Rio Olympics, causing loss of public funds worth Sh 5,846,346. He allegedly conferred a benefit of Sh 1,506,391 each to Adan Enow and James Singh. Richard Bura and Monica Sairo were allegedly paid Sh 918,391, while Eunice Kerich and Samuel Njuguna each took Sh 498,391.
Four-time Olympic gold medalist Keino was to be charged with allocating his son Ian Kipchoge Sh 2.5 million for air ticket and allowances during the 2016 Olympics. But police said he is now a witness after they talked to him for almost six hours.
The prosecution said Nkabu failed to comply with guidelines on management of public funds that led to the misuse of Sh 22,540,800. Komen allegedly authorized the unlawful payment in excess of Sh 15.3 million as allowances to members of the Kenyan team.
On Monday, Kenya’s ambassador to Russia, who is also a former Sports PS, Richard Ekai, together with ex-NOCK officials Stephen Kiptanui and Francis Kinyiri were charged over the Rio scandal. They were freed on Sh 1 million bail. The court ordered that all the accused persons deposit their passports before it but are liberty to apply for them if need be. The court also ordered that should any of the accused persons present any sureties intended to be used to secure their freedom pending trial, they should be verified by the DCI.