Former Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC)
managing director Shem Ochuodho and two former senior managers of the
State corporation have suffered a major legal setback after the Court of
Appeal dismissed a suit they had filed blocking their prosecution over
their involvement in an Sh827 million fraud.
The
trio had been accused of conspiring to defraud KPC the colossal amount
through a bogus refinancing deal signed with Triple A Capital nearly 15
years ago.
Dr Ochuodho, John Gichia Macharia, Terry
Winjenje and Triple A Capital had in 2014 obtained a High Court order
barring the criminal proceedings against them after convincing Justice
Weldon Korir that the refinancing deal at the centre of their
predicament had been approved by the Attorney- General’s office, which
was now prosecuting their case.
But the Appellate Court
has now ruled that former KPC bosses hoodwinked the AG’s office, the
Finance and Energy ministries into approving the suspect refinancing
deal and then went ahead to execute an entirely different plan.
The
former KPC bosses and Triple A Capital had argued that the AG, whose
office was part of the State corporation’s board could not come round to
participating in their prosecution. Justices Asike Makhandia, William
Ouko and Kathumira M’Inoti, however, held that prosecution of the former
KPC bosses was not centred on the transaction approved by then AG Amos
Wako but on proving that what the accused individuals did was criminal.
Under the intricate deal, Triple A Capital was to pay KPC’s creditors on behalf of KPC and recover the money from the oil firm.
But records indicate that KPC ended up paying creditors
with own funds obtained by charging company assets to Standard
Chartered Bank – a transaction it completed through Triple A Capital in
2004.
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