William Ruto, the Deputy President has been cleared of any involvement in the high-profile Arror and Kimwarer dams scandal that rocked the ruling Jubilee Party mid last year.
Speaking to K24 on the Sunday night of June 7, 2020, Director of Public Prosecutions Noordin Haji said that “Kimwarer and Arror scandal has nothing to do with Deputy President. It is about loans that were taken to the detriment of the people of Kenya.
Ruto had long been suspected and sometimes accused of taking part in the alleged theft of public funds, that saw the arrest and subsequent prosecution of former Treasury CS Henry Rotich, PS Kamau Thugge and 26 other government officials.
While explaining why the case had taken too long to move forward, Haji noted that legal processes are underway to ensure that there no more hurdles for the persecution.
The twenty-seven government officials are facing 24 charges among them abuse of office and conspiracy to defraud. In particular, former Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich and his former Principal Secretary Kamau Thugge were charged with abuse of office.
Rotich was charged with two counts of abuse of office. Part of the charge sheet read, “That on April 18, 2017, being the Cabinet Secretary National Treasury and Planning, you used your office to improperly confer a benefit to CMC Di Ravenna- Itiniera joint venture by unlawfully executing a facility agreement for the funding of the development of Arror multi-purpose dam.”
Treasury PS Kamau Thugge, on the other hand, was charged with five counts of abuse of office. One charge read, “That on May 18, 2017, used your office improperly to confer a benefit to Intensa San Paulo S.P.A, London Branch and CMC Di Ravenna-Itiniera joint venture by unlawfully approving payment of EUR 2.5 (Sh295,877,663) for the development of the Arror multi-purpose dam.”
According to the charge sheet, Henry Rotich, Kamau Thugge, David Kimosop, Kennedy Nyachiro, Jackson Kinyanjui, Titus Muriithi, Paulo Porcelli, CMC Di Ravenna- Itinera Jv and CMC Di Ravenna- Itinera JV Kenya Branch are accused of jointly conspiring to defraud the Government of Sh27,740,760,550 between December 17, 2014, and September 27, 2018.
Rotich, Thugge and other entities allegedly entered into a commercial loan facility agreement disguising it as a government to government loan guaranteed by the Italian Government.
Haji says that he is not after anyone at the Deputy President’s office as the treasury has always been perceived to be under the president himself.
The DPP highlighted that other countries have been helpful in offering new information in order to hasten the case that has been dragging.
“Remember this is a very complex case, we have also applied a lot of Mutual Legal Systems to a number of countries that is the UK and Italy and it is giving us a lot of leads in terms of the funds.
“Probably where they have been stashed or who was given what, that is still something that we are refining but the case has been delayed because of the many applications before the High Court,” noted Hajji.
