Investigating officer testifies in Sh588m Waititu graft case
An investigating officer in the Sh588 million graft case against former Kiambu Governor Ferdinand Waititu and 12 others, tabled documentary evidence showing that the award of the roads tender to Testimony Enterprises was irregular.
Mohamed Hassan a forensic investigator with the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission told Trial Magistrate Thomas Nzyuki, that Testimony forged and presented academic documents of its technical staff to the Kiambu county tender committee, to convince them they were capable of undertaking the road construction works.
Hassan said they recommended to have the directors of Testimony—Charles Chege and Beth Wangechi—charged because they used forged documents to clinch the lucrative tender.
Road tenders
Other forgeries were that of a Chinese construction firm. It is alleged that Testimony forged their documents to claim they were in a partnership so as to be awarded the roads tender.
These documents were attached to the bid documents submitted by Testimony directors for verification during the tendering process. They also form part of the evidence being used by the prosecution to nail the accused persons in the case.
The court heard the two main aspects in the Sh588 million probe was the irregularity of the tender and loss of funds.
The investigating officer further told the court that during their investigations, they sought to establish how there was a conflict of interest which led to the charging of the former county chief.
He explained they were able to establish there was a conflict of interest in the case in that Waititu roped in his wife and used their companies to benefit from the irregular supply of the tender.
“By letter dated May 7, 2019, addressed to the Registrar of companies, we requested information in relation to various companies being Saika two developers Ltd, Delta hotel and Naivasha resort Ltd,” he said.
He told the court that they requested the shareholding list and annual returns, current and former directors, among other information.
Conflict of interest
In response, they were told the directors of Saika Two are Monica Njeri Irungu, and Ferdinand Ndungu Waititu with shareholding of 980 and 20 shares respectively. The company was registered on May 24, 2011.
For Delta hotel, the proprietors are Waititu and his wife Susan Wangari.
In the case, Waititu and his wife are accused of receiving Sh51 million through their companies Saika Two Estate Developers Ltd and Benvenue Delta Hotel, where it was alleged they engaged in a conflict of interest and dealing with suspect property.
The charges state that between July 2, 2018, and March 13, 2019, in Nairobi, Waititu and Saika Two Estate Developers Limited received Sh18,410,500 from Testimony Enterprises Limited, having reason to believe that the said amount was acquired from Kiambu County Government through corrupt conduct.
Waititu and his wife are also alleged to have received Sh7,214,000 from Testimony Enterprises Limited, while having reason to believe that the said amount was acquired from Kiambu County Government through corrupt conduct.
The prosecution’s case is that Waititu and his wife received part of the money as kickbacks while knowing that they were proceeds of crime and used Sh6 million from the proceeds to purchase Delta Hotel to disguise the source of funds.
The magistrate adjourned the case until July 2 for final submissions.
