Former Sports Cabinet Secretary, Hassan Wario, has been sentenced to a six-year jail term after he was found guilty of abuse of office.
Magistrate Elizabeth Juma, while sentencing the former CS, Thursday, September 16, noted that Wario and his co-accused used their positions in contradiction of the law.
Wario was, however, given an option to pay a Ksh3.6 million fine failure to which he will serve the jail term.
However, his co-accused, former National Olympic Committee of Kenya (Nock) official, Stephen Soi, will serve a jail term of ten years or pay a fine of Ksh103 million after he was found guilty in five counts of corruption.
The two were found guilty of corruption and abuse of office over the 2016 Rio Olympics games scandal.
Magistrate Elizabeth Juma stated that Wario abused his office by approving the inclusion of three other persons in the Ministry's list of delegates who travelled to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for the games.
The court noted that Wario allowed the three to be awarded allowances as part of Team Kenya.
Magistrate Juma stated that there was a wastage of resources and the budget for the Olympics games had to be tailored, adding that not everyone involved in the planning should have travelled.
The Magistrate stated that Wario and Soi are first-time offenders and also took into account the age of Soi, who is now 65 years old.
Notably, the court dismissed Wario's argument that it was necessary for the two officials to be included in Team Kenya since the country was at the time having a bad public image over doping allegations.
"I have also taken into account that by the time Wario instructed some individuals to be included in team Kenya, there was no negative publicity. It only emerged later when they won in Rio."
"But they managed to bring good performance but in the process, the government of Kenya lost a good amount of money. This brought a bad image," the Magistrate ruled.
In seeking a stiffer penalty, the Director of Public Prosecutions, Noordin Haji, through Joseph Riungu urged the court to hold the accused persons responsible and also restore faith in the justice system in Kenya.
“A case serves its purpose when the fruits of the judgment are realized. Every person should be accountable for their actions. Given the amounts involved, the sentence given should act as a deterrence [to corruption]."
Riungu further stated that the offences facing Wario and Soi involved a colossal amount of money and they have been proven beyond a reasonable doubt to be corruption offences.
The prosecutor stated that the sentence to be meted against the two should commiserate with the offences committed.
"The offences were proved beyond reasonable doubt that on the funds allocated to the sports docket, this country has athletes who represent the country to the world and the funds allocated to this Ministry should benefit them," he stated.
“To protect the society from the harmful act, the Judiciary developed sentencing guidelines whose aim was to address the gap which was there and the same should be followed to the latter while passing the sentence."
Riungu, further declared that the Constitution requires state officers, in the exercise of their duties, should bring integrity and public confidence to the office and society.
However, Wario, who was found guilty of abusing his office by allowing three 'joyriders' to travel to Rio without being part of Team Kenya, had sought a lenient sentence.
Wario through his lawyer, Rogers Sagana, argued that he is a first time offender and he was also sacked as a Cabinet Secretary and as an Ambassador after being charged.
The former CS stated that he is not the same person and he has learned from his mistakes. He further told the court that he is a remorseful offender.
"As your considering the sentence, we urge the court to consider a non-custodial sentence or a fine not exceeding one million shillings for each of the counts," Sagana pleaded.
Soi, on his part, through lawyer Kimutai Bosek, urged the court to be lenient while passing the sentence arguing that his client is remorseful having not benefited from any money lost during the Rio scandal.
Bosek sought to have Soi, who is 65 years old, granted a non-custodial sentence since he suffers from diabetes and hypertension.
The two are, however, allowed to appeal the sentence within 14 days.
