Four people including Water minister Charity Ngilu's son-in-law and MP Cecily Mbarire's husband were were yesterday morning arrested from their city homes in connection with the multimillion-shilling scandal at the ministry of Water and Irrigation. The four were picked up from their homes as early as 6am and taken to Integrity Centre where they were questioned for most of the day. The other two people are officials from the Water ministry. All of them are expected to be arraigned at the Anti-Corruption Court this morning.
Ngilu's son-in-law is Billy Indeche and Dennis Apaa is the husband of Tourism assistant minister Mbarire. Apaa and Mbarire are directors of Broad Vision Utilities Ltd, a company accused of having won irregular tenders at the ministry headed by Ngilu. The two civil servants are the director of Water and Irrigation Lawrence Simitu and Isaiah Benjamin Amwanzo, who is in-charge of the electrical department at the ministry.
Sources at Integrity Centre confirmed to the Star that they were all grilled separately before the charges were preferred. All of them were accompanied by their lawyers during the interrogation. They all signed a substantial bond to appear in court this morning.
The four will be charged together with the deputy director of operations and maintenance in the Water ministry Samuel Aluoch Otieno Alima, the chief executive officer of the Tanathi Water Services Board Robert Mati Musyimi, the Tanathi resourse development manager Joseph Mutuku Nzesya, the Tanathi acting finance manager Mwagambo Mwangombe Nyamawi and Apaa's company, Broad Vision Utilities.
Just last week, the Director of Public Prosecution Keriako Tobiko directed the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission to arrest and prosecute the people mentioned in the mega scandal. While sparing Ngilu from immediate prosecution, Keriako directed the commission to conduct a further probe into all the allegations levelled against her.
Ngilu is accused of awarding the contracts to her relatives against stipulated procurement procedures, a claim she has denied. The suspects are expected to face several charges including conspiracy to commit economic crime, fraudulent acquisition of public property, willful failure to comply with applicable procedures and guidelines relating to the tendering of contracts, among other charges.
It is alleged that between 22 January 2009 and 7 September 2010 at the Ministry of Water at Maji House in Nairobi they jointly conspired to commit an offence of corruption and defraud the ministry out of Sh26,429,507 by purporting that Broad Vision Utilities Ltd was qualified to be granted a tender to equip five boreholes situated in Machakos and Makueni districts under the emergency drought mitigation programme.
It is also alleged that between 22 January 2009 and 24 April 2009 at Maji House, Simitu, Amwanzo and Alima willfully failed to comply with the law when they awarded the tender to Broad Vision Utilities which was unqualified.
While giving the directive last week, Tobiko said he had defied political pressure in recommending the arrest and prosecution of the suspects. "There has been a lot of political pressure for us to make a decision on the matter. However, I have made the decision on the basis of the evidence produced and not political pressure," said Tobiko at the time.
Ngilu has consistently denied any wrongdoing and blamed her political rivals for her current woes. She has accused her political nemesis, Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka, of causing her troubles, an accusation Kalonzo has consistently denied. Ngilu will now face a fresh probe by KACC over allegations that she had commissioned the multimillion-shilling Nduguiri Dam in Ukambani which is not in use.
Allegations of corruption and other malpractices at the ministry were sparked off almost two year ago when Ngilu's then assistant minister Mwangi Kiunjuri protested his transfer to the ministry of Public Works. Kiunjuri accused Ngilu of transferring him in an attempt to cover up questionable payments and deals at Maji House.
Ngilu has since faced a number of probes. She has appeared before a parliamentary committee investigating the matter as well as the EACC. The Parliamentary Committee on Lands and Natural Resources on April 14 cleared Ngilu saying it had not found any evidence of wrongdoing on her part. Kiunjuri accused the committee of bias saying it had ignored all incriminating evidence and relied only on the evidence meant to exonerate Ngilu.
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