DCI Exposes How Gachagua Tricked Youths To Get Govt Tenders

The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) welcomed a ruling on Thursday, July 28 by High Court Judge Esther Maina, directing Mathira Member of Parliament Rigathi Gachagua, to forfeit Ksh200 million to the government, which he acquired fraudulently from government agencies through corrupt deals.

This is after the legislator failed to prove to the court how he obtained the money after it was wired from different government agencies to a local microfinancing company, owned by the legislator.

The DCI revealed on Friday, July 29 that a comprehensive investigation conducted by sleuths based at the Serious Crimes unit, unearthed details of how the MP used different companies to fraudulently secure government tenders.

DCI boss, George Kinoti during a past media briefing. /FILE

Using proxies who had registered over 20 companies, Gachagua obtained over Ksh1.7 billion from close to 10 government ministries, state departments, parastatals and county governments paid through the company.

The MP and two of his trusted female associates approached youths and women to register companies and open accounts at the company, then used his influence and blackmail to secure tenders for the companies. 

However, one of Gachagua’s trusted confidants and Personal Assistant (PA) Julianne Jahenda, was made a signatory in all the accounts opened by the suppliers at the micro-financier.

"In a well orchestrated and executed plan, the youths were then given loans by the micro-finance and assisted to supply the required goods, most of which were substandard and broke down immediately after being delivered, leading to losses of hundreds of millions of tax payers money. 

"Hospitals were the most targeted by the crooked thugs who took advantage of efforts by County Governments to equip their health facilities and offer specialized health services to the public," stated the DCI in part.

In one such deal in 2014, a county based in central Kenya received medical equipment worth Ksh27.4 million for supply of dialysis machines and a water treatment plant. 

The tender for supply of the equipment was awarded to 13 companies all allied to Gachagua. However, the payment was made in a single voucher through the microfinancier, then transferred to Gachagua’s personal accounts. 

This is despite the fact that one of the dialysis machines and the water treatment plant supplied were not functional, prompting the national government through Managed Equipment Scheme (MES) to come through by supplying eight dialysis machines and a water treatment plant that are currently in use at the hospital.

"At the South Coast, a hospital received an incinerator worth Ksh12.7 million supplied by one of Gachagua’s associates in 2014. The incinerator has never been put to use since it was a faulty junk, yet the county government had paid Ksh10 million for it.

"During the same year, a county in Western Kenya also traded with the crooked Member of Parliament through proxies, for supply of medical equipment to a tune of Ksh123.1 million," added the DCI.

According to shocking details, after the tenders were paid to the proxies’ accounts at the microfinancier, Jahenda would immediately transfer the money to other accounts belonging to Gachagua, who would then deposit the monies in other different accounts to avoid detection by the detectives.

In some cases, the youths would be compelled to sign blank cheques that would later be cashed and the money deposited to the personal accounts of the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) presidential running mate

The sleuths also established that there were funds going into his accounts from loans and inter-company transfers, indicating that he was the ultimate beneficiary of the funds received from the counties.

The suppliers were then left paying for the loans that they acquired at the micro finance and supplied junks to county hospitals. 

"It is through the painstaking investigations by sleuths from the Serious Crimes unit, that this high level fraud was detected, leading to the freezing of Ksh201,911,371.28 belonging to the MP by the Assets Recovery Agency (ARA).

"Additionally, the detectives whom the MP recently alleged couldn’t do simple arithmetics, discovered that Jahenda who operated a mobile money shop in the city’s Eastlands suburbs prior to being recruited as Rigathi’s Personal Assistant and another female associate, had received over Ksh254 million which they could not account for," added the DCI.