Court Frees CS Rotich and PS Thugge on KSh 15M Cash Bail

Milimani Law Court judge Magistrate Douglas Ogoti on Tuesday evening released Treasury CS Henry Rotich and Principal Secretary Kamau Thugge a bond of Ksh.50 million or Ksh.15 million cash bail.

While delivering the ruling, the magistrate also barred the two from accessing their places of work, terming them as scenes of crime.

“The places of work of the accused persons are considered scenes of crime and they should keep away. If there is any need to visit their places of work that should be done in the presence of the investigating officer,” said Ogoti.

The court also warned the two against tampering with evidence in any form or approaching witnesses in the case.

CS Rotich and PS Thugge had been arrested on Monday afternoon over charges involving the multi-billion Arror & Kimwarer dams scandal. The officials are facing 24 charges including abuse of office, conspiracy to defraud and engaging in a project without planning.

Appearing before the court on Tuesday morning, the two together with other officials pleaded not guilty to charges.

The Scandal
The multi-billion-shilling scandal involves the construction of two dams (Arror and Kimwarer ) to be constructed in Elgeyo Marakwet – a case which took the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Noordin Haji 9 months to brobe.

CS Rotich first appeared before the DPP for 40 hours between February and March this year. He was questioned over what he knew about the Arror and Kimwarer dam projects that saw him record statements of more than a dozen pages.

In total, 28 officials have so far been arrested yesterday in connection to the matter. They include KVDA acting MD Francis Kipkech and other senior government officers.

Reuters have also quoted the DPP stating that Kenya will be seeking the extradition of an Italian director of CMC di Ravenna firm, to face corruption charges in the scandal. The international media said the Italian director of CMC di Ravenna will face the charges related to the tenders for the two billion shilling projects. CMC Di Ravenna was awarded the tender although government officials were aware that the Italian firm had not completed three other projects.

The dams scandal, which DPP Haji termed as one of the biggest corruption cases in the country in recent times, saw Kenya enlist the help of Italy, UK and Dubai to finally crack the case and get much-needed evidence to commence prosecution.

According to the DPP, “if the projects were carried out in adherence to the law and existing policies for safeguarding the public interest, then it should not have cost Sh63 billion. We have evidence to prove Sh19,714,366,991 was lost through a well-choreographed scheme to defraud public funds.” he said while ordering the arrests on Monday.