why Police turned controversial Keino to a witness in the Sh55m scandal

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Former Sports Cabinet Secretary, now Kenya Ambassador to Austria Hassan Wario, and athletics legend Kipchoge Keino presented themselves to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) as ordered by court.
The duo was also been joined by former director of administration Haron Komen and former finance officer in the Sports ministry Patrick Nkabu. They presented themselves to police by 5:30 am.

Hassan Wario and athletics legend Kipchoge Keino were later  questioned for hours  by 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 Sh55 million scandal.

The Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympic Games Probe Committee discovered that the ministry had signed a ticketing deal with a local travel agency to provide air tickets at a much higher price than the national carrier, Kenya Airways, had quoted.

But during investigations Police learnt Keino never signed documents and thus  turned controversial Keino to a witness in the ongoing case.

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It showed that, while the National Olympics Committee of Kenya (Nock) had negotiated for a Sh175,000 bill per economy class return ticket to Rio, the travel company had increased the rate to Sh445,381.

Business class rates were quoted at Sh800,000 but the agency charged Sh2,028,385 per ticket.

The committee was formed by Dr Wario through Kenya Gazette notice number 7176 of September 9, 2016 to look into various issues regarding Kenya’s preparations for and participation in the games.

The four had reported to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) headquarters at about 5:30am to beat a court deadline. They were 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 6am Thursday, failing which warrants of arrest would be issued against them.

Ogoti also ordered that the four appear before him on Friday at 8.30am 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 Sh5,846,346.

He allegedly conferred a benefit of Sh1,506,391 each to Adan Enow and James Singh. Richard Bura and Monica Sairo were allegedly paid Sh918,391, while Eunice Kerich and Samuel Njuguna each took Sh498,391. Four-time Olympic gold medalist Keino was to be charged with allocating his son Ian Kipchoge Sh2.5 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 Sh22,540,800. Komen allegedly authorized the unlawful payment in excess of Sh15.3 million as allowances to members of the Kenyan team.

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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 Sh1 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.­

 

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