Former Kiambu Governor Ferdinand Waititu was Thursday ordered to deposit Sh53.5million or spend 12 years in prison after being found guilty of corruption related charges.
His wife Susan Wangari was ordered to deposit Sh500,000 or spend one year behind bars.
All convicts were also barred from holding any public office for ten years.
He was also barred from vying for any political seat for a period of seven years.
The court convicted them on graft-related charges but acquitted them on three counts of money laundering.
Their co-accused, Testimony Enterprises Limited director Charles Chege, was also slapped with a nine-year sentence or pay Sh295 million.
Beth Wangeci, the second director at Testimony Enterprises Limited was fined Sh1 million or serve one year behind bars.
Chief Magistrate Thomas Nzyuki had said the prosecution proved that Waititu failed to adhere to values of national governance and to safeguard public funds when he received Sh25 million from Testimony after the award of the irregular tender.
He said the testimony of 32 witnesses and documentary evidence proved that Sh25 million was disbursed to him as a direct consequence of the award of the tender to testimony.
“The inevitable conclusion is that Waititu is liable for conflict of interest by acquiring an indirect personal interest of Sh25 million from testimony,” said the magistrate.
These monies were channelled through his company and business name Saika Two Developers and Bienvenue Hotel during his tenure as the Governor of Kiambu.
“This is a case of a classic example of conflict of interest and debunks the much hyped theory of political witchunt as claimed by Waititu,” said the court.
The court in convicting Waititu also said a former roads official Lucas Wahinya also an accused in the case was guilty of disregarding every rule in the procurement law.
“Nothing seemed to stop him from securing the award of the tender to Testimony enterprises whose directors were acquittances of the Governor,” said the Magistrate.
The accused persons were however acquitted on charges of money laundering with the court saying there was no evidence to prove the same.
Nzyuki took into consideration the evidence of Justus Bundi- the county’s procurement boss who said Wahinya disregarded his opinion on various gaps that needed to be addressed before awarding the tender.
Waititu, his wife and other county officials were charged on July 29, 2019 with the corruption case.
Waititu in particular faced conflict of interest, dealing with suspect property, money laundering and abuse of office.
The Prosecution said Saika Two Estate Developers Ltd, a firm owned by Waititu and his wife, is said to have received more than Sh25 million from Testimony Enterprises Limited Contractor, a firm contracted by the county government to develop roads through irregular tendering.
The tender in question was for upgrading various gravel roads in Thika, Limuru, Gatundu North, Juja and Ruiru sub-counties during the financial year 2017-2018.
It was awarded to Testimony Enterprise, owned by Charles Chege and Beth Wangeci Mburu after quoting Sh588 million.
After the award, the company gave Waititu a ‘kickback’ of Sh25.6 million.
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