An angry Deputy President William Ruto, on Sunday, February 16, rubbished reports linking him to the alleged Sh39.5 billion fake military equipment scam that led to the arrest of former Sports CS Rashid Echesa.
Ruto, through Twitter, termed the reports linking his Harambee House Annex as the epicentre of the scam, as a smear campaign designed by his political rivals.
“ODP (Office of the Deputy President)does NOT procure for any ministry/department. Question: Other than 23 minutes in Annex, for months, which government offices involved in the ‘tender’ did the scammers visit?” a seemingly angry Ruto ranted.
The DP went on to question whether the purported ‘buyers’ had accessed the Department of Defense (DoD), who would ideally be involved in the procurement process, and if they did, details of who they met and the facilitator of the rendezvous to be provided.
ODP does NOT procure for any ministry/department. Question:other than 23min in Annex,for months,which government offices involved in the ‘tender’ did the scammers visit? Did they access DOD? Who facilitated? Who did they meet? Get the truth.Forget the sponsored NONSENSE in media
— William Samoei Ruto, PhD (@WilliamsRuto) February 16, 2020
This recent communication by the DP follows his Saturday tweet on the same matter where he said his office was not involved and asked not to be looped to the scam but instead the authorities to arrest those found guilty.
“The desperation of my political competitors on their choreographed smear campaign against WsR is evident even for fools (whom we have a shortage for) to see,” DP Ruto wrote.
He added: “Just wait and see where this will end up. Washindwe! Go for the fraudsters. Leave me to serve the nation.”
Ruto was responding to an article by The Standard titled: ‘Detectives probe Ruto’s aides over Sh40b guns fraud.’
It is alleged that Echesa and his co-conspirators Daniel Otieno Omondi, Kennedy Oyoo Mboya, and Clifford Okoth brokered the fake deal with two foreign investors at DP Ruto’s office.
The four were arrested on Thursday at Harambee Annex by detectives from the DCI and were arraigned in court on Friday. The court allowed police to detain them until Monday for investigations to be concluded.
Echesa, who posed as a powerful Kenyan politician, approached the two investors with the promise of helping them win a tender for supply of military equipment worth Sh39.5 billion to Kenya’s department of defense.
The two investors, an American and Egyptian, had reportedly already paid Echesa and his team KSh11.5 million as a show of commitment for the deal that was to be finalized at Harambee Annex on February 13th, 2020.
According to reports, detectives are also said to be keen to rope in all the ring leaders of the scheme and of key interest, are three top officials in the DP’s office who by the virtue of their positions, could be aware of the details of the humongous deal.
These are his longterm personal aide Farouk Kibet, Chief of Staff Ken Osinde and Private Secretary Reuben Maiyo.