Newly elected EACC boss Twalib Mbarak has said investigations inside Samburu county show gross financial misappropriation and conflict of interest in a racket organised in a systematic pattern.
EACC revealed how Samburu county officials embezzled public funds amounting to Ksh.2billion with claims that county officials registered companies some of which were awarded tenders worth Ksh.700million.
“No works were done, financial investigations reveal that most of the money was withdrawn in cash and shared out among various county officials,” a statement from Mbarak reads.
“In other cases, contractors were irregularly awarded contracts worth over Ksh.1 billion for works partly or never done after which they paid to top county officials,” it adds.
The commission noted that it acquired evidence of millions of shillings in bribes paid to various county officials by companies that were awarded contracts.
County Chief Officers among them his PA Simon Etiene Lelesit, Speaker Solomon Lempere, various CECs as well as contractors also had their homes raided.
Meanwhile, Samburu Governor Moses Lenolkulal is at this hour being grilled at the EACC headquarters.
The commission now says that apart from filing for criminal charges on the suspects, they will be seeking freezing and forfeiture of the assets in a bid to recover lost public funds.
In November last year, the Senate revealed that eight counties, Samburu included, had failed to account for public funds.
Lenolkulal now joins the list of Governors who have been linked to alleged corruption cases in their counties.
The officers arrived at the Karen home Wednesday morning in search for documents in a case they are developing.Another team went to the homes and offices of chief officers, directors and contractors at the county.
The officers say there has been misappropriation of funds meant for the county hence the searches. They were armed with search warrants at the time of the searches.
“There have been complaints of misappropriation of funds meant for the county which has prompted the searches,” said an official at the commission.It is not clear if the Governor was in Nairobi or Samburu at the time of the raids.
EACC officials said they will send their probe file to the office of DPP with recommendations for action.