A farmer accused of deceiving the National Cereals Produce Board (NCPB) depot that he had a farm measuring 1050 acres hence obtaining 4304 bags of fertilizer fraudulently was on Thursday charged at a Nairobi court.
Benjamin Mosbey Kuto was accused that he used cheating tricks by approaching the Board that he had a land measuring 1050 acres on which he was carrying out crop farming thereby disadvantaging other farmers.
He allegedly committed the offence on dates between July 31 and October 6, 2023 at various NCPB offices in the country.
The prosecution said the accused by means of the fraudulent tricks obtained 4,304 bags of fertilizer worth Sh21,520,000 but subsidized by the government to a price of Sh10,760,000.
The NCPB believes that Kuto could not have obtained the fertilizer were it not for the fraudulent tricks.
He appeared before Milimani Chief Magistrate Lucas Onyina and denied the charges.
He requested to be released on bail which was opposed by the prosecution.
He was remanded at Industrial area prison until Friday for the hearing of his bond application.
This came as investigators said they have now shifted their focus to the ministry of agriculture headquarters in the fertilizer scam.
Officials say some staff at the ministry may have colluded with fraudulent farmers to defraud of the government of millions of shillings worth of fertilizer.
