Two CSs likely to face jail term over Sh21 billion dams scandal
Two Cabinet secretaries and three principal secretaries are among 22 people whom the DCI wants charged over the Sh21 billion Arror and Kimwarer dams scandal.
The Star yesterday reliably learnt the investigations were completed as recently as two weeks ago, however, the arrests have been put on hold due to a vicious push and pull and sabotage within the government.
A group of MPs, allied to a senior Cabinet official, have obtained a secret dossier implicating a prominent figure close to State House. The group is now using this documentation as leverage to slow down the arrests of those implicated.
Interviews by the Star revealed that the public interest probe had slowed after a State House official asked the DCI to freeze the arrests.
The Uasin Gishu dams probe split the Jubilee Party right in the middle, with Deputy President William Ruto and his allies accusing DCI chief George Kinoti of being used to wage a political war.
“Selective prosecution targeting predetermined individuals and projects, and steamrolled by a narrative of convenient lies and falsehood and propaganda, is not a fight against corruption. It’s impunity, it’s politics, and it’s headed in the wrong direction,” Ruto thundered on March 9.
A month later, as President Uhuru Kenyatta delivered the State of the nation address, he warned against what he termed vigilante justice.
“I must say that I have been under pressure…[over] who am I sacking,” he said.
“I must, however, caution that the pursuit of the corrupt will be undertaken strictly within the remits of the law —and not through vigilante justice and pitchfork protest,” Uhuru stated
The Star has established that by the time the ‘orders from above’ came stopping the arrests, the complex investigations that involved other countries, especially Italy and the UK were complete.
Officers from DCI’s Serious Crime Unit, who were working with officials from the office of the DPP, had agreed on the names of suspects to be charged as well as lists of witnesses.
“The investigators and five state counsels attached to the case had agreed on all issues and declared that the investigations were complete,” a senior source said.
Yesterday, DCI insiders claimed the investigations had lost momentum as some politicians from Rift valley and Central region succeeded in their effort to slow or prevent the arrests.
