Busia Governor Sospeter Ojaamong was arraigned in court and charged with fraud on Thursday, July 16. It was alleged that the ODM governor was involved in the theft of Ksh8 million taxpayers money.
Ojaamong and other county officials appeared before a the Anti-Corruption Court in Nairobi where they denied the charges after being put on the stand.
The economic crime labelled against the governor was that he orchestrated the plan that saw his administration spend the money on leisure by travelling to Germany.
“I never conspired with any of the accused to defraud the County Government of Busia the Ksh8 million mentioned in this case,” Ojaamong stated.
He added that there was a plot to table false evidence by the prosecution team which listed 3 of his officials as witnesses out of 12 who attended a county meeting where projects were discussed.
Ojaamong also argued that the three witnesses did not testify in court. The embattled governor will call four witnesses to the stand when the case will be mentioned again.
The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) sleuths arrested and arraigned Ojaamong in court on July 4, 2018. He was later released on a cash bail of Ksh1 million.
Ojaamong is among the governors under the commission's radar, alongside Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko who was barred from accessing his office over a Ksh300 million graft case.
In June 2020, EACC celebrated winning a landmark case when Sirisia MP John Waluke was jailed for 67 years after he was found guilty of embezzling Ksh300 million through a maize scandal.
Waluke was also ordered to pay a fine of over Ksh700 million with his assets set to be auctioned if he fails to raise the money.
