Kidero arrested at his Muthaiga home over City Hall graft
By AGEWA MAGUT and STELLA CHERONOFormer Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero has been arrested in ongoing investigations into alleged corruption.
Police and anti-corruption detectives on Thursday morning camped at his city home in Muthaiga for hours before leaving with him at around 11.30am.
Sources told the Nation that the team was hunting for cash and documents on a corruption case the ex-governor and ex-Mumias Sugar CEO is battling.
The detectives from the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC), accompanied by the security officers, arrived at the residence at 2am.
‘PURE HARASSMENT’
Dr Kidero, who briefly talked to journalists and denied he was under arrest, protested the raid, saying it was “pure harassment”.
He said he was wondering what evidence the detectives were looking for yet they did not find anything at his home in their first raid.
“I was arrested on the 9th of August. We have been in court twice and there is no evidence adduced. This morning, EACC came with a search warrant for my house. It would appear to me that they are looking for evidence because they never had evidence to arrest me in the first place. They should have had evidence before arresting me,” he said.
“And this is pure harassment, it is a violation of my rights and we will not take this lying down.”
But his criticism did not stop the detectives, who left with him as they took the search to his offices in Westlands.
They drove with him to Eldama Park on Eldama Ravine Road, where they started another search for records and bricks of notes.
SEARCH ONGOING
By half past midday, the search was still ongoing as journalists were locked out.
Dr Kidero was first arrested on August 8 and, together with other former county officials who were not in court, charged with corruption and abuse of office.
The other suspects are former Nairobi county secretary Lillian Ndegwa, former chief finance officer Jimmy Mutuku Kiamba, Mr Gregory Mwakanongo, a former chief executive officer in charge of finance and planning, former accounting head Stephen Ogago Osiro and Mr Luke Mugo, a former acting chief finance officer.
Also charged were businessman John Githua and Ms Grace Njeri of Lodwar Wholesalers Ltd and Ngurumani Traders Ltd, respectively.
The two companies allegedly received millions from City Hall for services not rendered.
The court heard that the two accused and seven others, who were not in court, conspired to commit fraud which led to the loss of Sh213,327,300 at the county government between January 16, 2014, and January 25, 2016.
They allegedly conspired to commit corruption by authorising payment to various companies for services not rendered.
Dr Kidero allegedly received a total of Sh24 million from Lodwar Wholesalers Ltd on diverse dates.
He allegedly received Sh14 million from Lodwar Wholesalers on August 24, 2014 and another Sh10 million from the same company on September 11, 2014.
CORRUPT DEALINGS
The prosecution claimed that the money was acquired through corrupt dealings.
Mr Okere denied several charges of authorising several payments for services not rendered.
It is alleged that he authorised several payments to Ngurumani Traders and Lodwar Wholesalers, yet there was no service rendered.