Sirisia Member of Parliament John Waluke on Thursday was sentenced to seven years in prison or pay a fine of Ksh.594 million after being found guilty of defrauding the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) Ksh.313 million.
Mr. Waluke was charged alongside businesswoman, Grace Sarapay Wakhungu who was also awarded the same sentence, and Erad Supplies & General Contracts Limited (Erad); a company the two had shares.
The two, through the company, were supposed to supply the NCPB with 40,000 metric tonnes of maize back in 2004 but ended up pocketing the whole tender money without supplying even a single grain of maize.
The tender was later canceled after the payment had been done after failing to prove that their company had insufficient funds to supply the maize.
Erad the company that was also directed by Jacob Juma moved to court and sued NCPB claiming that by the time of the cancelation, it had already had the maize poured from Ethiopia and was already at a store owned by a South African firm.
According to Erad directors, the South African firm in Djibouti stored the already ordered maize for 123 days and they were charged USD 1,146,000 and they anticipated profit amounting to USD 1,960,000.
In total, the firm demanded compensation worth USD 3,106,000to cover for loss of profit and storage charges.
NCPB efforts to reverse the ruling was unsuccessful and Erad swiftly moved to execute the orders
As a result of losing the case, NCPB accounts were frozen and through auctioneers, its assets including office equipment and motor vehicles were attached leading to loss of over K310 million among other assets.
Our sources say that as the execution process of the case was ongoing, EACC was doing the investigation to establish whether the award of the tender was fraudulently obtained using false documents.
In October 2014, in a Mutual Legal Assistance, South African Authorities called EACC to accompany its offiv=cers in unraveling the case.
Upon conclusion, the investigation case file was given to the DPP and the accused persons were arraigned in court in August 2018
Evidence seen by SonkoNews South African Authorities demonstrated that the document used by the Legislature and his co-accused reportedly emanating from South African firms were forged.
The two directors of Chelsea Freight which the accused claimed procured and stored the imported maize recorded statements to the effects that they had not done any deal with Erad Supplies did not own any warehouse nor dealt with maize.
From the documents seen by our sources, Ksh297 million of the Ksh313 million was transferred from NCPB account in just two days and was shared between the directors and their lawyers.
John Waluke was found guilty of three counts which include;Â acquiring public property to wit Ksh.297,386,505.00 contrary to Section 45(1) (a) as read with Section 48(1) of the Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes Act, 2003 and fraudulently acquiring public property to wit, Ksh.13,364,671.40 contrary to Section 45(1) (a) as read with Section 48(1) of the Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes Act,2003.
The MP was also convicted for fraudulently acquiring public property to wit, USD 24,032.00 (Ksh.2,475,295.00) contrary to Section 45(1) (a) as read with Section 48(1) of the Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes Act, 2003.
His partner in Crime Grace Sarapay Wakhungu was convicted on five charges. The counts against her include uttering a false document contrary to Section 353 of the Penal Code by presenting a forged invoice during the arbitration proceedings which led to the arbitral award.
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The 78-year-old also was found guilty of Perjury contrary to Section 108 (1) as read with Section 36 of the Penal Code for lying on oath during the arbitral proceedings.
Ms. Wakhungu was also convicted for fraudulently acquiring public property to wit Ksh.297,386,505.00 contrary to Section 45(1) (a) as read with Section 48(1) of the Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes Act, 2003 and fraudulently acquiring public property to wit, Ksh.13,364,671.40 contrary to Section 45(1) (a) as read with Section 48(1) of the Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes Act,2003.
She was also found guilty of fraudulently acquiring public property to wit, USD 24,032.00 (Ksh.2,475,295.00) contrary to Section 45(1) (a) as read with Section 48(1) of the Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes Act, 2003.
