Politics and policy
Suspended Transport CS Michael Kamau during his appearance in court Thursday morning. PHOTO | NATION MEDIA GROUP
By BDAfrica.com REPORTER
Suspended Cabinet secretary Michael Kamau was in
court Thursday after days of cat-and-mouse manoeuvres to avoid arrest by
anti-graft authorities.
He pleaded not guilty to four charges related to abuse of
office and failure to follow procurement rules and was released on a Sh3
million bond with a similar surety or a cash bail of Sh1 million
.
.
Mr Kamau, who appeared before Senior Principal
Magistrate Lawrence Mogambi, was charged alongside Nicholas Mburu
Ngang’a and Kaka Matemu Kithyo. Both also denied the charges against
them.
Mr Ngang’a was released on similar terms to the CS, while the third accused was released on a Sh600,000 bail.
The suspended Transport secretary
had appeared in court earlier as directed by a High Court judge hearing
an application he filed Tuesday seeking to stop the planned
prosecution.
Justice Mumbi Ngugi had directed
that he should take the plea as planned but hearing of the case should
not proceed until she rules on his application.
The CS, however, did not take a
plea, after the magistrate handed him back to the Ethics and
Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) for processing.
Officers of the EACC took him away for “processing” at their Integrity Centre headquarters.
He returned to take a plea on four graft charges related to a design tender on a road construction project in Western Kenya.
Mr Kamau is accused of colluding
in the irregular trashing of the Kamukuywa-Kaptama-Kapsokwony-Kimilili
road design “leading to embezzlement of public funds”.
He is also under investigation by
EACC for allegedly illegally contracting a local firm to handle cargo
belonging to the Chinese firm contracted to build the standard gauge
railway, and directing billions of shillings of SGR-related consultancy
work to a firm linked to him.
No comments :
Post a Comment