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| Sirisia MP John Waluke |
Sirisia MP John Waluke and his business partner Ms. Grace Wakhungu suffered a blow in their appeal against their conviction and sentencing over the Kshs. 297 million maize scandals.
The MP who had used the appeal as a way to go-around the Chapter 6 Constitutional requirement and get himself re-elected as Sirisia MP will be forced to serve the 67-year prison term slapped on him with the High Court declining to set aside his conviction. The legislator may escape jail if he paid Kshs. 727 million in fines.
His business partner, Ms. Grace Wakhungu, on the other hand is set to serve 69 years in jail or pay an equivalent of Kshs. 707 million in fines.
While reading the judgement, the judge alluded "the lack of merit of the appeal" to the prosecution proving "beyond reasonable doubt" the criminal charges labelled against the two co-directors of Erad.
It had been claimed by the prosecution that Erad Supplies and General Contractors Limited, co-directed by Mr. John Waluke and Ms. Grace Wakhungu had been paid Kshs. 297,386,505 by the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) based on a forged invoice.
The two were charged with five counts including uttering of false invoices, perjury, and fraudulent acquisition of public property; crimes they committed between 2009 and 2013.
Trouble started for the two when Erad Supplies and General Contractors Limited won a tender from NCPB for supply of 40,000 metric tons of maize. However, the company was not issued with a letter of credit with four other firms who won the tender being given the crucial letter.
Without even supplying the maize, the company submitted the tender documents and executing the supply of the said tender, the prosecution had claimed.
Mr. Waluke and Ms. Wakhungu successfully filed an arbitration used forged invoices of storage costs incurred by Chelsea Freight upon the expiry of the contractual period that saw them be paid Kshs. 297,386,505 taxpayers' money by NCPB. Some of the money was to cover for storage charges and loss of profit plus interest and cost of arbitration.
Although the 27 witnesses that took a stand to testify in the fraud case played an important role aiding the case by the prosecution for the "serious" graft offences, the "forged invoice" used by Erad Supplies and General Contractors as proof of having executed the supply tender belonging to Chelsea Freight seemed to have sealed the fate of Mr. Waluke and Ms. Wakhungu.
Mr. Waluke and Ms. Wakhungu will have 14 days to appeal the decision by the High Court in the Court of Appeal.
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