Mudavadi did not pocket millions in Nairobi cemetery saga – witness
Former Deputy Prime Minister Musalia Mudavadi did not benefit from the sh283 million cemetery land deal, a top investigator has told an anti-corruption court.
Mr Tabu Lwanga, who was the overall investigator in the land scandal in which the Ministry of Local Government lost the colossal sum, said “no monies from the deal were deposited in Mr Mudavadi’s accounts.”
“When we tracked the movement of the cemetery money, none went to any of the accounts of Mr Mudavadi, who was then minister for local government,” Mr Lwanga said.
“ And we never saw his involvement.” he added.
Chief Magistrate Mrs Doreen Mulekyo heard that the Amani National Congress (ANC) leader recorded a statement with the anti-graft body (EACC) where shared information on what he knew on the land deal.
LAWYERS INVOLVED
Mr Lwanga said investigations revealed that two lawyers, Alphonse Mutinda and Paul Onduso, were the ones who distributed the Sh281,300,000 from the escrow account, while another lawyer disbursed Sh117 million.
Shown correspondence between the former head of public service Ambassador Francis Muthaura and Mr Mudavadi, Mr Lwanga said there was no conspiracy between the two to fix four senior civil servants.
In the correspondence, Mr Muthaura had directed Mr Mudavadi to furnish him with a list of senior government officers involved in the acquisition of the cemetery land to be pursued with a view to recover “ the huge sums of money lost in the transaction.”
In a letter dated March 1, 2010 , Mr Muthaura required Mr Mudavadi to get the list of those involved from a former acting director of Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (Eacc) Dr John Mutonyi then forward them to him “ for immediate action”
Mr Lwanga said the issue was matter of public interest Mr Muthaura wanted to be kept abrest of the issues by Mr Mudavadi.
At the same time, the Nairobi City County’s chief valuer Mr N I Nyoike valued the cemetery land measuring 119.3493 acres in Mavoko at sh450 million on December.
DISCREPANCY
Mr Lwanga had earlier told the chief magistrate Mrs Doreen Mulekyo that the land was valued by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (Eacc) at sh30 million.
Mr Tabu could not explain the discrepancy in value between his evaluation and that done by Eacc during cross-examination by lawyer Wilfred Nderitu who is defending a former legal director of the defunct City Council of Nairobi (NCC) Ms Mary Ng’ethe.
Ms Ng’ethe is charged alongside former Permanent Secretary Sammy Kirui, former Town Clerk Mr John Gakuo and a senior city hall employee Mr Alexander Musee for abuse of office and authorization of the payment of the Sh283 million for the purchase of the land meant for interring the dead in Mavoko within Machakos County.
