“They shared Sh700 Million amongst themselves”-EACC

The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission on Wednesday nabbed Samburu governor and detained him for hours as the commission’s officials sifted through documents with phony contracts.

EACC has come to the conclusion that more than Sh 2 Billion have been lost in Samburu County through fishy contracts awarded to phony companies with scantily known directors.

More, there is no work to show for the hefty payments made to the companies involved in this corruption racket.

Lost 2 Billion in 4 years

In a Wednesday afternoon statement, EACC said it searched the residences of Mr Kassaine, his Personal Assistant Simon Etiene, County Assembly Speaker Solomon Lempere, several county chief officers, executive committee members and contractors awarded phony tenders.

To EACC’s new CEO Twalib Mbarak, the county has lost more than Sh2 billion in the last four years.

“The investigations revealed gross financial misappropriation, conflict of interest and embezzlement of funds in an organised and systematic pattern involving county officials working in diverse departments,” Mr Mbarak said.

Divided Sh700 Million among themselves

The commission said their investigations revealed that some officials of the county government had registered companies that were awarded contracts worth over Sh 700 million but no service was rendered.

CEO Mbarak remarked that their probe revealed that the money was withdrawn in cash and shared amongst various county officials.

No work done

Meanwhile, in other cases that are still being investigated, contractors were awarded tenders worth Sh1 billion for works that were partly done after they paid kickbacks to county officials.

“The commission has evidence of millions of shillings in bribes paid to various county employees by companies that awarded contracts,” it said.

“Investigations further revealed that the officers under investigations invested the embezzled funds in real estate development,” it added.

The commission revealed that it was planning to freeze assets that were fraudulently acquired by the county staff.

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