On Friday, April 26, detectives from the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) arrested the Taita Taveta County Assembly clerk over his alleged involvement in a Ksh17 million graft scandal.
The arrest followed a High Court ruling in Voi, where a case filed by the clerk against the EACC and ODPP seeking to halt his arrest and prosecution was dismissed.
Justice George Dulu, on April 25, declined to grant the orders requested by the county official, thereby paving the way for his prosecution.
The county official is among those accused of fraudulent expenditure relating to a bonding trip undertaken by 21 MCAs to Zanzibar in 2022.
According to the EACC detectives, the Commission’s investigations established that a total of Ksh17 million was fraudulently spent on a trip out of the country.
Out of the amount, Ksh9 million was directly paid to the organizers for logistics while Ksh8 million was paid as interest to 30 officials, including 21 MCAs.
“The County Assembly used forged documents to account for the fraudulent expenditure. The officials were overpaid while some of those who received allowances did not travel,” the EACC detectives noted.
Following his arrest, the suspect was escorted to EACC Mombasa Regional Offices for processing pending arraignment.
“The Clerk faces graft charges alongside the Deputy Speaker Mwadime Chao who has since pleaded not guilty to charges,” the detectives stated.
The move comes a day after EACC Chief Executive Officer Twalib Mbarak sent a stern warning to county officials involved in graft allegations.
Mubarak while speaking at the Commission's workshop, stated that several senior county officials had been put on the commission's radar over fraudulent deeds including a governor who doubled as a lawyer.
"Yesterday the noise they made one of the people there was a governor and his county is on our red flag so you can tell that lawyer-cum-governor we may end up in his place very soon,” Twalib Mbraka stated.
