PRIME Minister Raila Odinga's sister Beryl Odinga was yesterday questioned for two hours by the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission, according to multiple sources.
Beryl has been chairperson of Kenya Railways Staff Retirement Benefits Scheme since 2008.
She was reportedly at KACC’s Integrity Centre from 9am yesterday being questioned by investigators over various transactions including the sale of Railways pension fund properties.
The KRSRBS has nine board members. Long serving chief executive Mathew Tuikong was sent on compulsory leave last year pending investigations by KACC.
Several other board members and employees have been questioned by KACC officers who have also undertaken a forensic audit of the scheme's financial transactions.
"We are almost finishing investigations on this matter and from what we have seen some people are culpable. They are likely to be charged in court," said a KACC officer.
"We wanted Beryl to explain a number of transactions that have been undertaken under her watch," said a senior officer at Integrity Centre yesterday.
“ It is unfair to single out the board chairperson for condemnation yet the scheme’s board has many members representing various stakeholders where decisions were reached unanimously. This malicious and baseless accusations targeting individuals must cease forthwith," said KRSRBS spokesman Timothy Musunza yesterday.
He denied that Beryl was questioned by KACC officials. However multiple contacts in KACC said that Beryl had been there.
The Railways retirement scheme owns prime properties across Kenya and in Nairobi worth an estimated 19 billion shillings. Yet it owes its 9,000 members millions of shillings in pension arrears.
The KRSRBS was established in 2006 after the concessioning of the Rift Valley Railways as a pension scheme for former Kenya Railways employees.
The scheme was sued over the irregular sale of property owned by Kenya Railways retired staff in October last year.
Three pensioners sued the board of trustees accusing them of mismanaging the scheme; failing to prepare and file annual financial statements; failing to pay monthly dues to the pensioners; and failing to convene an annual general meeting.
The pensioners claim Beryl and the board authorised the chief executive officer to advertise for sale three houses at Matumbato Estate in Nairobi's Upper Hill even though they had long been transferred to third parties.
Last October the chief executive Mathew Tuikong was sent on leave and replaced in acting capacity by Caroline Nyororo, the then pension scheme’s estate manager.
The rent collected from the Railways properties managed by the scheme provides the pensioners with their monthly payments. The pensioners said they were now at risk of losing their pensions through "plunder and mismanagement".
Sources at the Anti-Corruption Commission yesterday confirmed that Beryl had been summoned to shed light into complaints raised by the pensioners.
The railways retirement scheme also has 72 acres of land in Muthurwa close to the Nairobi Central Business District where it is planned to demolish dilapidated housing and replace them with modern housing, shopping malls, office blocks and parking silos but court cases have stalled the process.
A proposed development of Golf City on 73 acres along Uhuru Highway, a partnership between KRSRBS and KRC, consists of a nine hole golf course, five-star hotel, conference facilities, and shopping mall among other developments.
However the project has stalled and the Chinese firm that won the contract for the $600 million project is still encountering hurdles.
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