UPDATE 17:48: Former Cabinet Secretary Hassan Wario has evaded a six year jail term after paying Ksh3.6 million fine.
A battalion of journalists awaited former Sports Cabinet Secretary Hassan Wario outside the Millimani Law Courts on Thursday, September 16, with the hope that he would issue a statement after his sentencing.
Wario had been sentenced by magistrate Elizabeth Juma to a six-year jail term or pay a fine of Ksh3.6 million after he was found guilty of abuse of office.
Emerging from the courts with his friends and family members, Wario gestured the 'peace' sign as he hurriedly passed by the rolling cameras.
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He, however, did not utter a word and silently passed through the small crowd that had gathered.
Some of his fans could be heard saying 'Alhamdulillah', an Arabic phrase meaning "praise be to Allah".
His co-accused, former National Olympic Committee of Kenya (Nock) official Stephen Soi, was sentenced to a ten-year jail term or pay a fine worth Ksh103 million after he was found guilty in five counts of corruption.
The duo was found guilty of corruption and abuse of office over the 2016 Rio Olympics games scandal.
A section of Kenyans took to Twitter to lament that the court had issued lenient penalties to the former CS.
They argued that corruption would not completely be faced out if the justice system offered such lenient sentences.
"Good calculations, steal 100 Ksh million, get arrested and arraigned in court, get released with a fine of a mere Ksh 3 million. Keep the rest of the money!!! Repeat," a netizen stated.
"If this is the penalty for stealing public money, why won't people continue stealing? This is a joke. Ksh3.6m will be paid there and then. It is indeed very true that judiciary is the weakest link in fighting corruption," another opined.
