The Director of Public Prosecutions Noordin Haji has ordered the arrest of Maasai Mara University Vice Chancellor Mary Walingo, nearly a year after she was exposed by Citizen TV investigative feature in September 2019 dubbed the Mara Heist.
In a statement issued on Monday, August 24, Haji gave the green light for the prosecution of the VC and four other administrators over the misappropriation of over Ksh177 million.
The other four administrators roped in the scandal are Professor Simon Kasaine Ole Seno (Deputy Vice-Chancellor Finance), Professor John Almadi Obere (Acting Deputy VC Academic), Anaclet Biket Okumu (Finance Officer) and Noor Hassan Abdi (the Vice Chancellor’s driver).
Haji accused the five of misusing funds and using their juniors to write cheques to various banks in a bid to hide the money trail.
The DPP noted that in the financial years between 2016- 2019 several cheques were used to irregularly withdraw funds from various Maasai Mara University accounts for personal use amounting to a sum of Ksh.177,007,754.
"There was no justification for the withdrawal of the funds from the said accounts as there are no supporting documents for the expenditure.
“Monies withdrawn by authorised finance officers at the university would be irregularly delivered to the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Mary Walingo through her proxies," Haji's statement reads in part.
He further disclosed that the fraud was orchestrated and accomplished despite the university having a well-developed accounting system known as the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) System and proper books of finance.
In his statement, Haji noted that there was a deliberate failure by officers in the finance department to record the subject transactions/cheque withdrawals in the University’s ERP system and books of record in an attempt to hide the particular transactions from the University’s financial records.
He added that he had considered all guidelines and evidence tabled before him before concluding that the university suffered major financial loss.
The five suspects will face various charges under the Anti- Corruption and Economic Crimes Act and the Penal Code.
