US businessmen who were accused of buying luxury homes in Kenya after defrauding the American government Ksh32 billion in 2019 have been accused of attempting to bribe a juror.
According to authorities, the accused attempted to bribe one juror Ksh 15 million for a favourable verdict.
The bribe was sent as a gift to the juror's home.
On that date, the juror was not at home, however, the money which was wrapped as a gift was delivered to a relative who was inside the house.
More money was promised after the favourable verdict was delivered.
“After the woman left, the relative looked in the gift bag and saw it contained a substantial amount of cash,” the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) reported in an affidavit.
“It is highly likely that someone with access to the juror’s personal information was conspiring with, at a minimum, the woman who delivered the USD 120,000 bribe (Ksh15 million)."
Authorities noted that the juror reported the attempted bribery, leading to the juror's removal from the case.
As part of the investigations into the bribery claims, the FBI confiscated the phones of the accused persons.
“This is completely beyond the pale. This is outrageous behaviour. This is stuff that happens in mob movies,” Assistant US Attorney Joseph Thompson stated after the bribery reports.
The US businessmen are accused of defrauding the US government in 2019 in a feeding programme that saw the government pay Ksh32 billion to the businesses involved after they were entrusted with running a food programme for children in Minnesota during the pandemic.
According to the US Department of Justice, the businessmen involved in the programme would inflate the costs and use fake names of students to get more money from the government.
Later, the businessmen purchased luxury apartments and vehicles in other countries, including Kenya.
"In total, they opened more than 250 sites throughout the state of Minnesota and fraudulently obtained and disbursed more than USD 240 million (Ksh32 billion) in Federal Child Nutrition Program funds.
"The defendants used the proceeds of their fraudulent scheme to purchase luxury vehicles, residential and commercial real estate in Minnesota as well as property in Ohio and Kentucky, real estate in Kenya and Turkey, and to fund international travel," read the report.
