Former Sports CS Hassan Wario was sentenced to six years in prison for stealing money meant for athletes in Brazil Olympics. But he is now a free man.
Wario was found guilty on Wednesday September 15th by Anti-Corruption Magistrate’s Court for misusing public funds allocated to the National Olympic Committee of Kenya (Nock) for the 2016 Games in Rio.
On Thursday the court sentenced the disgraced former CS to six years in prison for his crime. Also convicted was Team Kenya leader in the 2016 Rio Olympics Stephen Soi who was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
However, the Anti-Corruption court also granted the two men the option of avoiding their prison sentences altogether.
Wario had been given the option of six years in prison or paying a fine of Ksh3.6 million whereas Soi was given the option of 10 years in prison or a fine of Ksh103 million.
The former Sports CS was quick to pay the fine the same Thursday and avoided the six year prison sentence that he was handed.
Wario walked out of the court a free man despite the misery that he and his accomplices subjected Kenyan athletes at the Rio 2016 Olympic.
Kenya won the most medals of any African nation in Brazil Olympic but was beset by scandals. The courts established that Ksh54 million set aside for the Kenyan team in Brazil could not be accounted for by the sports ministry officials in office at the time.
Athletes did not receive their Nike kits while some of them were stranded in a Rio shanty town, where gunshots were heard, as officials looked for a cheap flight home.
The scandal overshadowed Kenya finishing as the highest-placed African nation on the medals table in Rio, with six of the tally of 13 medals being golden.
Related: Hassan Wario’s Fate To Be Known On Thursday After Being Found Guilty
