DCI reveals how JamboPay owner Danson Muchemi allegedly offered Sonko Sh5 million daily bribe
The detective told the court that an undercover operation was mounted in January 2019 in Mtwapa, Kilifi County, after Sonko lodged a complaint of attempted bribery against him
A Nairobi court heard that the proprietor of Webtribe Limited, the company operating the JamboPay digital transaction platform Danson Muchemi allegedly requested to offer a daily bribe of Sh5million to former Nairobi governor Mike Sonko.
According to the Investigating Officer, the trader was offering a daily bribe of between Sh4 million and Sh5 million to the former governor to secure a lucrative county revenue collection tender.
The revelations were made by Chief Inspector Kiptoo Kisorio, formerly of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI)’s Serious Crimes Unit, which investigated the case in 2019.
Kisorio was testifying as Sonko’s defence witness in the Sh20 million graft case before Senior Principal Magistrate Charles Ondieki of Milimani law courts where the former governor has been put on his defense.
The detective told the court that an undercover operation was mounted in January 2019 in Mtwapa, Kilifi County, after Sonko lodged a complaint of attempted bribery against him.
The officer said Sonko had raised the alarm that Muchemi was dangling cash bags at Sonko in a bid to retain the controversial Nairobi County revenue collection contract that had become the subject of intense scrutiny.
“The former governor said Muchemi was visiting him at his Kanamai residence. He wanted help arresting him if he attempted to bribe him,” Kisorio told the court.
Sonko had reported the bribery attempt to Kilifi Deputy DCIO and following the governor’s request, Kisorio and his team booked an official report, OB 35/10/01/2019, at Mtwapa Police Station.
Officers then equipped Sonko with an audio recorder to secretly record the meeting with Muchemi at his home.
“We instructed the governor to record everything. The meeting lasted a while, and at some point, another person whom I do not know briefly came in and left. After the meeting ended, the governor handed us the recorder,” Kisorio testified.
“What struck me was that Muchemi openly told the governor that if he agreed to work with him, he would be getting Sh4 to Sh5 million daily. He also claimed that former Governor Evans Kidero made Sh7 billion from the same revenue collection deal.”
Kisorio wanted the court to allow him play the audio but Ondieki postponed the same to Thursday, July 17, when the controversial recording is expected to be heard in open court.
Kisorio says he believes the audio evidence will shed more light on the depth of corruption in the revenue collection tender.
Sonko has lined up 11 more witnesses to testify in his favour.
