Former Tourism Cabinet Secretary Najib Balala risks a second arrest a few weeks after he was arraigned at the Malindi Law Courts over the construction of Utalii College in Kilifi County valued at Ksh8.5 billion.
In a media interview on Tuesday, Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) Chief Executive Twalib Mbarak revealed that investigations into the second phase of the scandal were underway, and Balala may be grilled further to shed light on the misappropriation of funds.
In the first phase where a file was already forwarded to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP), the Commission probed the former CS's involvement in consultancy services.
Mbarak claimed that in this phase, architectural teams were contracted for the provision of the designs for the construction of the college.
The second phase, on the other hand, centres around the contract awarded for the construction of the project, which has since stalled.
"For your information, this case has got two phases. Phase 1 is about the consultancy, and there is the construction part of it. We are yet to finish that file, and there will be a second case coming on the same matter, and most likely, it will hit on the same people," Mbarak stated.
"This is one of the sad stories of this country where a big grand project has stalled because of corruption."
The Tourism Fund website indicated that the project was 77.74 per cent complete as of December 2022.
"The amount of money that that college was allocated, which was roughly Ksh2 billion, went up to Ksh8 billion. Right now, if you go to that site, it is a very sad story. You have a very big college under construction, but it is stuck," stated Mbarak.
Kenyans.co.ke has since learnt that the investigations into the latter phase are at the tail end, and the file, which is likely to bring forth new charges, will be forwarded to the ODPP in due course.
It is, however, unclear what the new charges entail and whether EACC will apprehend Balala alone or his alleged proxies.
Balala was first arrested a few days before Christmas day and was charged with an irregular payment of Ksh8.5 billion for the project.
The former CS was picked up in Nairobi on the evening of December 21 and spent the night at Kilimani Police Station before he was transferred to Malindi for plea-taking. He pleaded not guilty.
Among other individuals who were arrested were Leah Adda Gwiyo, the former Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Tourism, as well as a managing partner at an engineering company.
