The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) on Monday seized 121 official stamps believed to be used in the fraudulent scheme that saw Bomet County lose Ksh1.6 billion.
The stamps were recovered from the house of a road engineer based in Bomet who is at the centre of the Ksh1.6 billion theft.
The case implicated county executive committees (CEC) members and chief officers who were arrested by EACC on Thursday, October 28.
Reportedly, the engineer fled from the search operation scene leaving detectives in his house where he has established a full-fledged office for making fake documents for non-existent construction works that he has been using to facilitate fraudulent payments in collusion with top county officials.
Also recovered from his house are volumes of various procurement and payment documents including ‘approved’ contracts for various companies.
Other documents recovered were fake bid documents awaiting approval signature, local purchase orders, unused payment vouchers, procurement requisitions for various construction works, and requests for payments to various companies, all suspected to be forgeries.
The fugitive Engineer, who is now at large, is one of the Bomet suspects under investigation for conflict of interest, unexplained wealth, and fraudulent acquisition of public property.
It is alleged he owns several companies including a logistics firm and two construction companies which he has been using to secure tenders illegally.
So far, he has been awarded multi-million tenders by the County Government of Bomet through his forgery of documents.
The act of securing a job position or getting a government tender using faked documents constitutes a fraudulent acquisition of public property and renders it a criminal activity.
Forgery is an offence contrary to section 345 tied with section 349 of the Penal Code, as such the suspect is liable to be prosecuted for the forgeries as well as the possession of fake official government stamps.
It comes barely two weeks after EACC arrested an Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) manager for using fake certificates to secure a prestigious job at the electoral body.
