The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) has revealed that it has received no evidence linking Members of Parliament to the bribery claims recently made by President William Ruto.
Speaking at a press conference on Friday August 22, EACC CEO Abdi Mohamud revealed that they are currently investigating some MPs on other criminal charges, but not in relation to the claims made by the president.
“Yes, we are investigating some members of parliament, not on receiving bribes within the Parliament or to do with the committees, but we are investigating about seven constituency development fund cases that are ongoing throughout the country,’’ Mohamud revealed.
Mohamud explained that the cases were strictly tied to the management of the National Government Constituency Development Fund (NG-CDF)and not to any alleged bribery within Parliament.
The CEO emphasised that the Commission is not acting on the recent claims of bribery in Parliament, which surfaced following President Ruto’s announcement of a multi-agency team to intensify the fight against corruption.
“As of now, we are not investigating any bribery within Parliament, whether in the National Assembly or the Senate,” he reiterated.
The CEO, however, revealed that it has completed 89 high-profile investigations in the past eight months, with files forwarded to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) for action.
These include cases involving four current and former county governors, two current Cabinet Secretaries, former cabinet secretaries, Principal Secretaries, CEOs, and MDs and heads of State corporations.
Mohamud revealed that they were currently investigating five sitting governors and 11 former governors.
“These investigations relate to allegations of embezzlement of public funds, conflict of interest, money laundering, and possession of unexplained assets,’’ the CEO explained.
On Monday, August 18, President Ruto elicited mixed reactions after he accused a section of MPs of having received bribes to vote against the recently enacted anti-money laundering law.
The president was speaking during a joint parliamentary group meeting with ODM and UDA legislators, where he revealed that he was aware of corruption happening within both the parliament and the senate.
“Do you, for example, know that a few members of your committee collected Ksh10 million so that you don’t pass that law on anti-money laundering? Did you get the money?” he asked.
