A Citizen TV exposé aired on the night of Monday, March 9, unearthed a cartel allegedly ran by Nairobi City County lawmakers that stole millions from the Nairobi's poor.
Political reporter, Stephen Letoo, in the report named 'Looters Assembly', revealed that a number of bursaries which had been awarded to needy students in the city were being diverted to some MCAs personal accounts.
The investigations which also included detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) revealed that cheques had been awarded to imaginary students who were not enrolled in any school.
It was established that the MCAs had also opened their own school, Kobudho Educational Center, which was used as a conduit of channeling the bursary funds from the county undetected.
Further research disclosed that the directors of the school included Job Omondi who also worked at the county's water department, Francis Ouma, a personal assistant to Karen MCA and Minority Leader David Mberia, Queenstar Ouma, wife to the PA and Nancy Nasimiyu, Job Omondi's wife.
More eyebrows were raised by Omondi's suspicious withdrawals including Ksh449,000, then Ksh624,000 and later Ksh900,000, all on different occasions.
In the investigation, the DCI uncovered 77 forged cheques and over 100 imaged cheques that amounted to a total of Ksh4.5 million.
Another MCA, Olando Palapala (Kitisuru Ward), alongside James Momita (from the city water department) and Tabitha Luchesa, were linked to another company, NT. Talvo Limited, which was used by the team to stash the loot.
Other cheques were awarded to legitimate students in high school, driving schools and others but were later diverted to other companies while records show that they were cashed out.
A report by the Daily Nation disclosed that DCI detectives had been trailing the fraudulent dealing at the assembly since 2018.
So far, the investigations have roped in over 20 MCAs for directly or indirectly benefiting from the loot.
“During the month of September 2018, information was received in this office that there is a community-based organisation operating under the name of Kobudho Educational Centre and it was defrauding Nairobi County government by forging bursary cheques,” read part of the DCI report.
Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko had written to the DCI in 2018 regarding the brazen plunder of public funds detailing about some firms that disguised themselves as schools to pocket millions.
{"preview_thumbnail":"/files/styles/video_embed_wysiwyg_preview/public/video_thumbnails/jdT04MeGgn0.jpg?itok=taL3rRrv","video_url":"","settings":{"responsive":1,"width":"854","height":"480","autoplay":0},"settings_summary":["Embedded Video (Responsive)."]}
