Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mwangi Kiunjuri has appeared before the team of investigators, with sources saying he was summoned to “clarify a number of issues that had emerged”.
The calling came days after sleuths who had traveled to Italy arrived back in the country with a copy of the insurance agreement written in Italian thus forcing them to seek the services of interpreters.
“Expect action soon. We have interpreted all that we had and we are ready,” said another official aware of the progress of the case.
From the copy in the document, experts have said Kenya paid 15 times over the fair rate to the Italian Government-owned credit insurer for insuring the loans procured from a consortium of banks led by Intesa San Paolo.
Such insurance arrangements are supposed to guarantee that the loan would be settled in case the borrower is unable to repay – including in cases of retrenchment or death of individuals.
Kiunjuri spent several hours at the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) headquarters in Nairobi as the noose tightened on those responsible for the loss of Sh21 billion paid to CMC Di Ravena for the two dams.
Kiunjuri been called to assist in the ongoing investigation, they said. Mr Kiunjuri, in particular, claimed there was a deliberate effort by people he did not name to paint him as corrupt.
“Over the past seven months, my name has been dragged through mud and appeared in newspapers and social media for all the wrong reasons — from the maize scandal to sugar, fertiliser and now the dams.
The information was obtained from an Italian Government-owned insurer, Service Assicurativi Del Comercio Estero (SACE), which was paid Sh11.1 billion as insurance premium for a loan to build the Sh65 billion dams.
An official in the know said investigations would have progressed quicker if not for a delay he blamed on language barrier.
Apparently, a team of detectives who flew to Italy to meet with SACE officials were handed a copy of the insurance agreement written in Italian thus forcing them to seek the services of interpreters.