Two former officials of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) were on Monday, February 28 found guilty of committing fraud during the award of a tender worth Ksh107 million.
Anti-Corruption Court Chief Magistrate Lawrence Mugambi found former IEBC officials Kennedy Gaunye Ochae, Gabriel Ngonyo Mutunga and Willie Gachanja Kamanga guilty of working in cahoots with a suspect in the National Youth Service (NYS) scandal, Ben Gethi to forge documents ahead of the 2013 General Election.
They altered documents that enabled Solarmak Technologies Limited, in which Gethi is a Director, get the multi-million tender to supply the electoral agency with solar lanterns used in the polls.
According to Mugambi, Mutunga was the brainchild of the scam that led to the commission losing millions. He further faulted him for involving Ochae, a new employee at the commission at the time, who signed the doctored tender documents.
”Gabriel Ngonyo Mutunga who was the procurement officer was the mastermind of the lethal scheme which gave rise to the loss,” Mugambi ruled.
Joyce Makena, his co-director at the company, was also found guilty. The two will be convicted for forging a tax compliance certificate issued by the assistant commissioner of the domestic tax department at Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA).
Notably, the Chief Magistrate acquitted two other co-accused persons in the graft case for lack of evidence. He further ordered that Gethi and the others be remanded at the Industrial Area prisons as they await sentencing on Tuesday, March 1.
The March 4, 2013 Genera election has been marred with corruption. In October 2013, former IEBC Chief Executive Officer, James Oswago was among officials nabbed by detectives from the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC).
Oswago and four other officials were questioned over Ksh1.3 billion spent on purchasing voter identification kits whose failure in the polls caused public outrage. The graft incidences raised questions on the procurement process conducted by IEBC.
The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) a the time, Keriako Tobiko, wrote to the EACC asking it to commence investigations into the IEBC procurement process. Tobiko told the EACC that he had appointed a team of Prosecution Counsels to assist them in the investigations.
The Supreme Court judgment on the presidential petition had also recommended further investigations and possible prosecution of the IEBC tender committee members noting that they might have participated in the procurement of faulty technologies used in the General Election.
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