Raids on Waiguru homes were useful, says EACC
Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) has recorded statements from 38 senior Kirinyaga County officials over alleged corruption by Governor Anne Waiguru.
EACC regional boss Charles Rasugu yesterday revealed that their raid in Waiguru’s homes and offices in Kirinyaga and Nairobi counties were successful, as they had managed to obtain crucial evidence relating to corruption allegations levelled against the governor.
“Yes, we managed to get crucial evidence as per the court order issued by Nyeri Chief Magistrate’s Court.
We are currently analysing it before taking the next step,” he stated.
The regional boss said they carted away computers during the raids at the governor’s residences in Kitisuru and Kagio in Nairobi and Kirinyaga counties respectively. The computers are being scrutinised by investigators.
“When the investigations are complete, we will forward the file to the Director of Public Prosecutions Noordin Haji for directions. We will only recommend and await his final directions,” he said
He added: “We need to come up with water tight case devoid of any loose ends.”
EACC is investigating allegations that Waiguru and other county staff were irregularly paid travel allowances amounting to Sh23 million, money reportedly spent on non-existent trips.
Commission wants to establish whether the trips were actually taken, and whether the documents supporting disbursement of Sh23 million to county officials are genuine.
The Nyeri Chief Magistrate Court had issued search warrants against the county boss and other staff with a view to retrieving information that may be useful to EACC’s investigation.
Unnecessary raids
But in a statement, Waiguru termed the raids unnecessary as she had already presented the documents sought by the investigators in the Senate impeachment hearing.
“This morning, the EACC raided my official residence, my private home and my office in Kutus.
From the statement we have seen from EACC, these raids were to search for documents in support of an investigation into travel imprests for official trips on behalf of the county,” she stated.
Waiguru explained that she had presented the documents to the Senate hearings on her impeachment in the full glare of live TV coverage.
“It is, therefore, a shock to be woken up by a battery of fully armed officers raiding my house to look for evidence on imprests.
Surely, you did not need a battery of machine-gun carrying policemen, raiding my home in darkness to get my cheque book! This could have been easily availed with a simple request,” she added
Waiguru further expressed concern over the amount in question being quoted at Sh23 million from Sh10 million that she answered for in her impeachment trial.
Governor Waiguru added that individuals keen to shape the 2022 succession politics in the Mount Kenya region motivated the incident.
“This is a decoy. It is intended to detract people who have recently been asking legitimate questions about how massive public monies have been spent. I have been here before.
I have been used as a decoy before. The plot failed then and it will fail now. Wild allegations are thrown around only to come empty of even the basic proof,” she said.
