Former Sports CS Hassan Wario spends night in police cells awaiting sentencing
Former Sports Cabinet Secretary Hassan Wario and ex-National Olympic Committee of Kenya (Nock) official Stephen Soi spent the night in police cells pending a pre-sentence and mitigation hearing on Thursday.
The two were found guilty of corruption and abuse of office in connection with the Rio 2016 Olympics scandal.
Wario and Soi were also found guilty of diverting money and kit from US sports equipment manufacturer Nike worth millions of shillings, which were later confiscated.
The Magistrate’s court on Wednesday said Prosecution had proven Wario had a role in the embezzlement of funds allocated to the National Olympic Committee of Kenya (NOCK) to oversee the welfare of Kenyan representatives to the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
It was reported at least Ksh88.6 million had been embezzled, an investigation ordered by the Sports ministry revealed in November 2016.
The prosecution accused Mr Wario of improperly conferring a benefit on three persons by including them in the delegation to Rio.
According to the report, NOCK also diverted money and kit from U.S. sports equipment manufacturer Nike worth millions of shillings.
Beside allegations of embezzlement, Wario is also accused of the purchase of unauthorised air tickets, overpayment of allowances and expenditure on unauthorised persons, to the tune of Ksh 55 million shillings in total.
Wario was Kenya’s ambassador to Austria when he was arrested in October 2018.
