EACC Raid House Of Engineer Who Masterminded Ksh1.6 Billion Scam

The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) revealed on Monday, October 28 details of how an engineer from Bomet County alongside other county government officials orchestrated a Ksh1.6 billion fraudulent scheme.

The anti-graft body revealed that it managed to seize 121 ‘official’ stamps for various companies from Bomet Roads Engineer at the centre of the multi-billion theft implicating county executive committees (CEC) members and chief officers arrested by EACC on Thursday.

The engineer had fled from the search operation scene leaving detectives in his house, where he established a full-fledged office for making fake documents for non-existent construction works that he uses to facilitate fraudulent payments in collusion with top county officials. 

Also recovered from his house are volumes of various procurement and payment documents including ‘approved’ contacts for various companies and bid documents awaiting approval signature.

Additionally, local purchase orders, unused payment vouchers, procurement requisitions for various construction works and requests for payments to various companies, all suspected to be forgeries, were also seized during the raid.

Meanwhile, EACC revealed that investigations into the case were ongoing as they sought the engineer's accomplices who work in the county government.

"The fugitive Engineer, who is one of the Bomet suspects under investigation for conflict of interest,  unexplained wealth and fraudulent acquisition of public property, owns several companies including Hamron Logistics Ltd, Wincheru Construction Ltd and Vird Building & Construction Ltd, which have been awarded multi-million tenders by the County Government of Bomet," EACC stated in part.

The act of securing a job position or getting a government tender using faked documents constitutes a fraudulent acquisition of public property and renders it a criminal activity.

Forgery is an offence contrary to section 345 tied with section 349 of the Penal Code, as such the suspect is liable to be prosecuted for the forgeries as well as the possession of fake official government stamps.

This notably comes after EACC on Monday morning, October 14 arrested a senior official of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) who was accused of forging her academic certificates and using the same to secure employment at the electoral body on April 4, 2012.

EACC Spokesperson Eric Ngumbi confirmed that the suspect who is a Manager for Boundaries Delimitation, was arrested at her home in Nairobi West.