Ethics and Anti Corruption Commission (EACC) officers probing Migori Governor Okoth Obado’s graft case have told the court that they were forced to start afresh after a section of the county offices burnt down during the investigation.
The investigator, Robert Cheruiyot Rono, who was giving his account in a case where the governor is accused of embezzling county funds said fire razed the procurement office forcing them to start the probe afresh.
Rono added that the timing of the fire was suspicious as they had just requested to be supplied with key documents in the case.
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“The timing of the fire incident raised a lot of questions on whether there was a deliberate and concerted effort to delay investigations into the alleged embezzlement of public funds,” said Rono.
“It happened on the eve of the day we were to be supplied with the evidence.”
According to Rono, county secretary Christopher Lusana was in August 2017 given two weeks to submit tender documents from 2013 but he failed to do so.
He instead showed up at the EACC offices in September 2017 to report that a section of the county offices had burnt down, destroying all procurement documents in the process.
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The Directorate of Criminal investigations (DCI) confirmed the allegations, and that indeed nothing had been salvaged from the fire.
“They stated that after evaluating the circumstances, there was evidence to show any person was responsible for the fire,” Rono added.
Obado and his four children, Achola, Susan Scarlet Okoth and Jerry Zachary Okoth, are out on bail after they were charged with graft in August over alleged embezzlement of Ksh73.4 million public funds.
Other family members implicated in the case include his mother and sister in law.
The county chief is accused of irregularly receiving money through his children from companies trading with the county.
This allegedly happened between 2013/14 and 2016/17 financial years.
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